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      Traits associated with internet addiction in young adults: Potential risk factors

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          Abstract

          The present study sought to determine whether certain personality traits associated with problematic substance use may also characterize young adults who report problematic internet use. An index of internet addiction as well as measures of traits previously linked to problematic substance use were administered to a sample of 86 young adults aged 18–30 years. Measures included the Internet Addiction Test (IAT), Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire (SPSRQ), Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS-21), Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), and the Fear of Intimacy Scale (FIS). Results indicated that IAT scores were significantly positively correlated with TAS-20, DASS-21, SPSRQ and FIS scores, as predicted. When age, gender and negative mood were controlled in a hierarchical regression, sensitivity to punishment (SP), sensitivity to reward (SR) and FIS significantly contributed to variance in IAT in the final model. SP partially mediated the relationship between TAS-20 and IAT, whereas no such mediation was indicated for SR or FIS. Present findings suggest that alexithymia and reward sensitivity may be important risk factors for internet addiction as for problematic substance use, whereas sensitivity to punishment may account for at least part of the association between alexithymia and problematic use of the internet.

          Highlights

          • Alexithymia was positively associated with internet addiction (IA).

          • Sensitivity to reward, sensitivity to punishment and fear of intimacy uniquely predicted IA

          • Punishment sensitivity mediated the link between alexithymia and IA.

          • Findings suggest common risk factors for IA and problematic substance use.

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          Most cited references26

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          The psychometric properties of the internet addiction test.

          There is growing concern about excessive Internet use and whether this can amount to an addiction. In researching this topic, a valid and reliable assessment instrument is essential. In her survey of Internet addiction, Young designed the Internet Addiction Test (IAT), which provides a basis for developments. The IAT has high face validity, but it has not been subjected to systematic psychometric testing. This study sought to replicate and expand Young's survey, and to examine the IAT more systematically. A questionnaire that existed as a Web page was devised, consisting of the IAT and 15 other questions regarding the respondents' demographic information and Internet usage. Participants were recruited through the Internet, yielding 86 valid responses (29 males and 57 females). Factor analysis of the IAT revealed six factors--salience, excessive use, neglecting work, anticipation, lack of control, and neglecting social life. These factors showed good internal consistency and concurrent validity, with salience being the most reliable. Younger and more recent users reported more problems, mainly concerning the neglect of work and social life. We expected interactive Internet functions to be more addictive; however, this was not found to be so. Overall, the IAT is a valid and reliable instrument that may be used in further research on Internet addiction.
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            Internet Addiction: A New Clinical Phenomenon and Its Consequences

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              Treatment of internet addiction: a meta-analysis.

              Internet addiction (IA) has become a widespread and problematic phenomenon. Little is known about the efficacy of treatment approaches for IA. Therefore, our objective was to perform an effect size analysis of psychological and pharmacological interventions for IA. We conducted a literature search using PsycINFO, PSYNDEX, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PQDT OPEN, WorldCat, Cochrane Clinical Trials Library, and manual searches. Our meta-analysis was based on 16 studies, covered a total of 670 participants, and used a random effects model. Special emphasis was given to the inclusion of studies from "non-western" countries. Effect size estimates suggest that psychological and pharmacological interventions were highly effective for improving IA (g=1.61), time spent online (g=0.94), depression (g=0.90) and anxiety (g=1.25) from pre- to post-treatment in the overall sample. Moderator analyses revealed that studies including individual treatments, a higher number of female participants, older patients, or a North-American sample had larger effect sizes for some outcome variables. Most effect sizes were high, robust, unrelated to study quality or design, and maintained over follow-up. Due to a small number of included studies and methodological limitations the results of this meta-analysis should be regarded as preliminary. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Journal
                Addict Behav Rep
                Addict Behav Rep
                Addictive Behaviors Reports
                Elsevier
                2352-8532
                14 April 2016
                June 2016
                14 April 2016
                : 3
                : 56-60
                Affiliations
                [a ]School of Psychology, Bond University, Gold Coast, QLD 4229, Australia
                [b ]National Centre for Dual Diagnoses, Innlandet Hospital Trust, Brumunddal, Norway
                [c ]Department of Behavioural Sciences in Medicine, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
                Author notes
                [* ]Corresponding author. mlyvers@ 123456bond.edu.au
                Article
                S2352-8532(16)30006-2
                10.1016/j.abrep.2016.04.001
                5845926
                29532000
                4c00e6e2-0808-4a42-81f5-68758b07208e
                © 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.

                This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

                History
                : 1 March 2016
                : 29 March 2016
                : 3 April 2016
                Categories
                Research paper

                internet addiction,personality,alexithymia,reward sensitivity,punishment sensitivity

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