Relationship of Internet Addiction with Alexithymia and Childhood’s Perceived Parenting in University Students

Abstract

Electronic media are integral part of everyday life and undoubtedly facilitate it on multiple levels. Internet is a useful work, knowledge (Papanikolaou, Makri, Magoulas, Chinou, Georgalas & Roussos, 2016), entertainment and information tool, but its limitless range often proves unsafe for the user. The present study, focuses on the relationship among web addiction, alexithymia and childhood’s perceived parenting while controlling for the indirect effect of depression. For the aims of the present study, 206 Greek University students attending Social, Exact Sciences and Ηumanities Departments, mean age 21, filled in a battery of measures; the Young’s Internet Addiction Test IAT (Young, 1998), the Toronto Alexithymia scale (Bagby, Parker & Taylor, 1994) the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale CES - D (Radloff, 1977), the Parental Bonding Instrument PBI of Parker, Tupling and Brown (1979) and a demographics form. Alexithymia presents significant direct association with Internet addiction, while the factors which mediate this relationship remain unclear. Findings are being discussed towards a possible review of the instruments measuring Internet addiction, as well as towards an approach of electronic media addiction from a different perspective with broader implications in therapeutic practice.