Abstract
This study examined the relationship between Excessive Internet Use (EIU) in adolescents and their family environment, namely the family type, the family economic status, the effect of parental care, the level of parental control, the amount of parental monitoring, the quality of communication, and the time spent together. The study was based on data from an international survey, Health Behaviour in School Aged Children (HBSC), conducted in Slovakia. The sample representative for adolescents included 2547 participants (51% boys) aged 13–15. Multiple-step linear regression revealed that higher parental care and parental monitoring predicted lower EIU, while higher parental overprotection and lower socioeconomic status predicted higher EIU. The results suggest that both so-called optimal parenting (i.e., the balance of emotional warmth and protection) and the adolescent′s autonomy lower the risk of EIU. Family factors explained about 14% of the variance, which suggests that aside from personal, cognitive and affective factors, a close social environment also plays an important role in adolescence EIU.
Highlights
The internet and the use of various digital devices are among the most important socialization factors and leisure activities in the lives of adolescents
We work with the term Excessive Internet Use (EIU) and define it as a problem that manifests as preoccupation, mood changes, difficulties with limiting time online, and subsequent conflicts, including difficulties that belong among the symptoms of addictive behaviour
Our analysis revealed that higher socioeconomic status (t(2537) = −2.44; p < 0.05), parental care (t(2537) = −3.19; p < 0.01), and parental monitoring (t(2537) = -6.62; p < 0.001) were significant negative predictors of EIU
Summary
The internet and the use of various digital devices are among the most important socialization factors and leisure activities in the lives of adolescents. The extent and intensity of internet usage has spawned research on both the benefits and the risks of online activities, including their addictive potential. This facilitated the inclusion of Internet Gaming Disorder in the International Classification of Diseases 11th Revision (ICD-11, World Health Organization). Some older literature suggests the existence of generalised internet addictions [2], more current literature leans towards specific internet use disorders [4] This has been supported by empirical findings that generalised and specific internet addiction mostly overlap [5], and that some online applications, especially online gaming [6] and social networking [7], contribute to this phenomenon more than others
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