The characteristics of internet addiction adolescents and their families

Abstract

The goal of the study was to identify specific personality characteristics of adolescents who have a problem with 'internet addiction', as well as the characteristics of their parents' personalities and of thefunctioning of their families. The sample consisted of 60 adolescents of both genders, agedbetween 15 and18. There were 30'internet addicts' belonging to the clinical group and 30 participants from the general population as the control group. Also, 120 parentswere examined; there were 30 parent couples of eachof the two groups of adolescents. The following measures were used in the research: Young's Internet Addiction Test -IAT, the Belgrade Adolescent Personality Inventory - BAPI, the Temperament and Character Inventory-Revisited -TCI-R (for the assessment of parental personality) and the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale -FACES IV.The results indicate that adolescents with internet addiction difficulties exhibit a high degree of impulsiveness, low persistence, and immaturity in the personality domains which regulate responsible, goal-directed and co-operative behaviour. The fathers of adolescents from the clinical group were highly ambitious and less available to their children, while their mothers were more impulsive and prone to change versus continuity, which means that they were also less accessible to their children, albeit in a different way than the fathers. All dimensions associated with the positive aspects of family functioning, such as Cohesiveness, Flexibility, Communication and Satisfaction were lower in the clinical group, while the dimension of Chaotic relations was higher. The results have shownthat the parents of adolescents from the clinical group have formed a specific kindof disengaged and distant parenting style that has resultedin avoiding behaviours of adolescents and their withdrawal into the 'virtual world'. These findings could have a significant role in understanding the originsof internet addiction, planning prevention programs and defining guidelines for effective therapeutic treatment.

Istraživanje se bavi utvrđivanjem specifičnih dimenzija ličnosti adolescenata 'internet-zavisnika', ličnosti njihovih roditelja i karakteristika porodičnog funkcionisanja s ciljem boljeg razumevanja faktora rizika za razvojovog poremećaja. Uzorak je činilo 60 adolescenata oba pola, uzrasta od 15 do 18 godina, od toga 30 iz kliničke grupe 'internet- zavisnika' i 30 ispitanika kontrolne grupe iz opšte populacije, kao i 120 roditelja, odnosno po 30 parova roditelja obe grupe adolescenata. U istraživanju su primenjeni upitnici za procenu zavisnosti od interneta (Young's Internet Adiction Test - IAT), za procenu ličnosti adolescenata (Belgrade Adolescent Personality Inventory - BAPI), ličnosti roditelja (Temperament and Character Inventory-Revisited - TCI-R) i procenu porodičnog funkcionisanja (Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale - FACES IV). Rezultati ukazuju na to da adolescente s problemom zavisnosti od interneta karakteriše visok stepen impulsivnosti i niska istrajnost, kao i nezreli aspekti karaktera koji regulišu odgovorno, ka cilju usmereno i kooperativno ponašanje. Očeviispitanika kliničke grupe imaju značajno više skorove na dimenziji Perzistencije, a majke na dimenziji Potrage za novinama, dok oba roditelja imaju povišene skorove na Self-transcendenciji, što potencijalno ukazuje na to da su manje dostupnisvojoj deci. Sve dimenzije koje se odnose na pozitivne aspekte porodičnog funkcionisanja kliničke grupe niske su prema proceni oba roditelja, dok je negativna dimenzija porodičnog funkcionisanja Haotičnost procenjena kao visoko izražena kod oba roditelja, a Neuključenost samo kod očeva. Dobijeni rezultati ukazuju na to da roditelji ispitanika kliničke grupe formiraju specifičan oblik dezangažovanog i distanciranog roditeljskog stila, koji rezultira izbegavajućim ponašanjem adolescenata i njihovim povlačenjem u 'virtuelni svet'. Takvi nalazi mogu imati značajnu ulogu u razumevanju nastanka zavisnosti od interneta, u koncipiranju preventivnih programa i definisanju smernica za efikasniji terapijski tretman.