EMPIRICAL EVALUATION OF EXPLANATORY MODELS OF GENERALIZED PROBLEMATIC INTERNET USE AMONG ADOLESCENTS

In recent years there has been increasing interest in the negative effects of Internet use, especially among adolescents. The purposes of the present study are: 1) to empirically test two explanatory models of Pathological Internet Use (PIU)-Davis’s cognitive-behavioral model, which identified psychological risk factors (e.g., loneliness, low self-esteem, and depressive symptoms) and two different types of PIU, specific (SPIU) and generalized (GPIU); and Caplan’s model, which clarified the cognitive and behavioral dimensions of GPIU (e.g., a preference for online social interaction –POSI–, deficient self-regulation, mood regulation, and negative outcomes) and the explanatory mechanisms involved and 2) to test over time the specific effects hypothesized by Davis and Caplan. 241 adolescents (93 male, 148 female; mean age 14.58 ± .69) participated in the study. The following questionnaires were filled out in the classroom: Generalized Problematic Internet Use Scale 2, Internet Addiction Test, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Beck Depression Inventory II, and General Loneliness Scale. Data were collected twice (6 month interval). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed for each model. Both models fit the data well (χ2= 83.85. df = 37. p <.001; RMSEA = .07 (90% C.I. = .05- .09); CFI = .97; SRMR = .05 for Davis’s model; χ2= 98.39. df = 38. p <.001; RMSEA = .08 (90% C.I. = .06- .09); CFI = .96; SRMR = .06 for Caplan’s model). The effects suggested by Caplan were supported over time by the current findings. POSI is a key cognitive component of GPIU that predicts how individuals use the Internet and the outcomes of such use. Mood regulation explains how POSI might be related to deficient self-regulation. Deficient self-regulation helps explain how and why Internet use can result in negative outcomes. The present study provided a contribution to the identification of the dimensions that constitute GPIU and of explanatory mechanisms involved in its development among a sample of Italian adolescents.