The Effects of Personal Susceptibility and Social Support on Internet Addiction: an Application of Adler’s Theory of Individual Psychology

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to examine the addictive effects of personal susceptibility and social support from family, friends, and significant other on Internet addiction. In this study, 207 medical students completed the UCLA Loneliness Scale, the Academic Expectations Stress Inventory, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and the Young’s Diagnostic Questionnaire for Internet addiction. Participants were recruited via simple random sampling technique. Personal susceptibility variables such as loneliness, academic stress due to other expectations, and academic stress due to self-expectations were significantly positively correlated to, and all domains of social support were significantly negatively correlated to, Internet addiction. After adjusting for demographic variables, social support emerged as a significant predictor of Internet addiction in the hierarchical regression analysis. In support of Adler’s individual psychology theory, the present findings suggest that social support from family is a valuable adjunct to prevention and intervention programs aimed at alleviating Internet addiction in medical students.