Title

Perceived stress, sensation seeking, and college students' abuse of the Internet

Authors

Authors

R. Velezmoro; K. Lacefield;J. W. Roberti

Comments

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Abbreviated Journal Title

Comput. Hum. Behav.

Keywords

Perceived stress; Sensation seeking; Internet abuse; Internet addiction; College students; Internet usage patterns; COMPUTER USE; ADDICTION; PERSONALITY; SEX; CONSEQUENCES; PSYCHOLOGY; ATTITUDES; PARADOX; Psychology, Multidisciplinary; Psychology, Experimental

Abstract

College students (n = 140) were examined to test whether sensation seeking and perceived stress would predict abuse of the Internet. Previous studies have found that disinhibition, boredom susceptibility, and total sensation seeking scores were related to Internet abuse (Chaney & Chang, 2005; Lin & Tsai, 2001). Because stress has been documented to have a negative effect on students (Pierceall & Keim, 2007), and may be linked to Internet use (Lavoie & Pychyl, 2001), it was tested as a possible predictor of Internet abuse. This study also analyzed abuse of the Internet for sexual purposes, because sexuality is prevalent online, and college students are in an age of sexual exploration. Results of stepwise regression analyses revealed that disinhibition and total perceived stress were predictive of Internet abuse for sexual purposes, and perceived hopelessness and boredom susceptibility were predictive of Internet abuse for non-sexual purposes. Implications for students and Internet abuse are discussed. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Journal Title

Computers in Human Behavior

Volume

26

Issue/Number

6

Publication Date

1-1-2010

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

1526

Last Page

1530

WOS Identifier

WOS:000282155200038

ISSN

0747-5632

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