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

    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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