Predictive Relationships Between Social Anxiety, Internet Addiction and Alexithymia in Adolescents

Cagla Girgin Buyukbayraktar

doi:10.5539/jel.v9n2p222

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine whether social anxiety predicts internet addiction and alexithymia in adolescents. The study group of the study consists of 406 adolescents (216 women, 190 men), with the following three age groups: 13&ndash;14 (32.3%), 15&ndash;16 (43.8%), and 17&ndash;18 (23.9%). &ldquo;Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (ESCO)&rdquo;, &ldquo;Internet Addiction Scale&rdquo;, &ldquo;Toronto Alexithymia Scale&rdquo; and &ldquo;Personal Information Form&rdquo; were used as data collection tools. Structural equation modeling was made in the analysis of the data. According to the findings, there was a positive linear relationship between social anxiety and internet addiction. When the predictive relationships between social anxiety and alexithymia were examined, it was determined that there was a positive linear relationship. The findings were discussed in the light of the relevant literature.

Highlights

Adolescence is an intermediate period between childhood and adulthood (Kulaksizoglu, 2004, p. 32), a transition is a period of change (Severin, 2000, p. 17)
The Bentler-Bonett normed fit index (NFI), The Tucker-Lewis coefficient fit index (TLI) and other fit indexes have shown that the model is very well compatible (Table 1)
The findings show that social anxiety is significant and in the same direction with internet addiction (r = .23, p < .01); social anxiety is significant and in the same direction with alexithymia (r = .29, p < .01)

Summary

Introduction

Adolescence is an intermediate period between childhood and adulthood (Kulaksizoglu, 2004, p. 32), a transition is a period of change (Severin, 2000, p. 17). With the transition to adolescence, the child takes on new roles socially, turns to new patterns of relationship and becomes part of his culture Alexithymia causes inadequate regulation of emotional and physical responses to sensations (De Berardis et al, 2008). This causes individuals with alexithymia to show poor social functionality during social situations (Moriguchi et al, 2009; Bird, Silani, Brindley, White, Frith, & Singer, 2010)

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion