Intensive and excessive Internet use: Different predictors operating among adolescents
Keywords
screen time
adolescents
excessive Internet use
Publication details
| Year: | 2020 |
| DOI: | 10.2298/psi190805003p |
| Issued: | 2020 |
| Language: | English |
| Volume: | 53 |
| Issue: | 3 |
| Start Page: | 273 |
| End Page: | 290 |
| Editors: | |
| Authors: | Popadic D.; Pavlovic Z.; Kuzmanovic D. |
| Type: | Journal article |
| Journal: | Psihologija |
| Publisher: | National Library of Serbia |
| Place: | Belgrade |
| Topics: | Wellbeing; Risks and harms |
| Sample: | 863 adolescents from Serbia (434 [50%] males) aged 11 to 17 years, from 40 primary schools and 20 secondary schools, covering grades 3 to 8 in primary schools, and grades 1 to 3 in secondary schools. |
| Implications For Parents About: | Parental practices / parental mediation; Parenting guidance / support |
| Implications For Educators About: | Other |
| Implications For Policy Makers About: | Other |
| Other PolicyMaker Implication: | Far more important than the amount of time spent online is the issue of what the children use the Internet for. |
| Implications For Stakeholders About: | Healthcare |
Abstract
The aim of this study was to determine the factors which have a predictive value when it comes to the intensive and excessive use of the Internet among adolescents. Predictors tested included different psychological, behavioural, and socio-demographic variables. The data were collected at the end of 2018 within the framework of the international survey EU Kids Online, on a sample of 863 adolescents from Serbia (434 [50%] males) aged 11 to 17 years. It was shown that the intensive use of the Internet was more characteristic among girls, adolescents with a tendency towards antisocial behaviours, those who think to have advanced digital skills and those whose parents did not apply restrictive forms of mediation. On the other hand, the excessive use of the Internet was related to certain psychological variables, like anxiety, impulsivity, and perceived discrimination on various grounds, but also to the absence of active parental mediation and support in the use of digital technologies.
Outcome
"The amount of time spent online was positively correlated with excessive Internet use. Restrictive parental mediation predicts the amount of time spent online. Excessive Internet use is mostly predicted by the adolescent’s anxiety. “Depathologization” of screen time within the context of the modern way of
life is supported." (Popadić, Pavlović, & Kuzmanović, 2020, p. 273)