Problematic using of the Internet among seniors – a pilot study

Abstract

The use of the Internet is nowadays an important element of each person’s life. Along with the advancement of technology, older adults use the Internet ever more frequently. (CBOS, 2016; CBOS, 2018). The aim of the study was to verify if seniors actually differ from people in middle adulthood in terms of the severity of problematic Internet use and its selected correlates - personality structure and coping strategies. The conducted research was a pilot study.
 The statistical analysis included the results of studies conducted among 44 individuals in late adulthood and 41 individuals in middle adulthood. The average age among seniors was 67 years and in the control group – 35 years. The respondents resided in the Małopolska Province. The study used the Problematic Use of the Internet Test in the Polish adaptation by Ryszard Poprawa. This tool makes it possible to identify the severity of symptoms of problematic Internet use (Poprawa, 2011). In addition, the Inventory for Measuring Coping with Stress - Mini-COPE and the IPIP-BFM-20 Questionnaire were used. The results of the analyses showed no significant differences in the severity of problematic Internet use and the personality structure between the studied group of seniors and people in middle adulthood. Significant differences were found in the aspect of coping with stress. Specifically, people in late adulthood obtained significantly lower results on the sense of humour subscale and significantly higher results on the subscale of religious coping than people in middle adulthood. It should be emphasized that the conclusions of the conducted research may not only provide a significant indication for effective preventive interventions aimed at seniors, but also confirm the need for further, in-depth analysis in this area.