The Relationships between Internet Addiction, Social Support, Psychological Symptoms and Some Socio-Demographical Variables

The main aim of the present study is to find out the purpose and prevalence of the internet usage among university students, and to study some individual variables such as personality factors, psychological symptoms and social support in relation to internet addiction. In addition, the relationships between internet addiction and demographical variables have been explored. The sample consisted of 1198 university students, 672 female and 525 male, from state and private universities in Istanbul and Ankara. Internet Addiction Scale, Big Five Personality Inventory, Social Support Inventory, Brief Symptom Inventory and demographical information form had been used as measurement devices. It has been found that, the mean duration the students spent for Internet in a day is 1.53 (SD = .79) hour; 18.89 percent of the students could be defined as Internet addict and male students were found to have higher addiction scores than female students. In addition, the students from higher SES were found to have higher Internet addiction scores than the students from lower SES. The regression analyses results showed that the daily time spent for internet (duration) and using Internet for social interaction, being in higher SES, to have lower life satisfaction and lower self-control and to have higher neuroticism, anxiety and somatization predict internet addiction among university students.