Why Are Turkish University Students Addicted to the Internet? A Moderated Mediation Model
Internet addiction has become a significant problem that primarily affects young people. It has an essential effect on the individual’s self-perception and assessment of their competencies. This study aimed to reveal whether there is a significant relationship between the level of internet addiction...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-07-01
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| Series: | Healthcare |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/9/8/953 |
| _version_ | 1797523694393753600 |
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| author | Orhan Koçak İlayda Yılmaz Mustafa Z. Younis |
| author_facet | Orhan Koçak İlayda Yılmaz Mustafa Z. Younis |
| author_sort | Orhan Koçak |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Internet addiction has become a significant problem that primarily affects young people. It has an essential effect on the individual’s self-perception and assessment of their competencies. This study aimed to reveal whether there is a significant relationship between the level of internet addiction of university students and their age and self-esteem. For this purpose, internet addiction and self-esteem scales were used in addition to questions such as age, gender, the purpose of internet use, and internet daily usage time. We used a quantitative research method to obtain cross-sectional data from 400 Turkish young people using online surveys. Correlation, regression, mediation, and moderation analyses were performed using SPSS and the PROCESS macro plugin for data analysis. Internet addiction was significantly associated with self-esteem, gender, age, and daily internet usage. In addition, we discovered that self-esteem and daily usage time played a mediation role in the effect of the age variable on internet addiction. Moreover, the moderation roles of social networks, gender, and location in the impact of self-esteem on internet addiction were determined. With this study, we understood that as age increases, self-esteem triggers the decrease of internet addiction. In this sense, policies should be developed to increase self-esteem among young people to ensure the conscious use of the internet. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T08:46:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3ebf334368da4386b295f7369a8485d3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2227-9032 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T08:46:40Z |
| publishDate | 2021-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Healthcare |
| spelling | doaj.art-3ebf334368da4386b295f7369a8485d32023-11-22T07:48:42ZengMDPI AGHealthcare2227-90322021-07-019895310.3390/healthcare9080953Why Are Turkish University Students Addicted to the Internet? A Moderated Mediation ModelOrhan Koçak0İlayda Yılmaz1Mustafa Z. Younis2Faculty of Health Science, Istanbul University Cerrahpaşa, 34320 Istanbul, TurkeyFaculty of Health Science, Istanbul University Cerrahpaşa, 34320 Istanbul, TurkeyCollege of Health Sciences, Jackson State University, Jackson, MS 39217, USAInternet addiction has become a significant problem that primarily affects young people. It has an essential effect on the individual’s self-perception and assessment of their competencies. This study aimed to reveal whether there is a significant relationship between the level of internet addiction of university students and their age and self-esteem. For this purpose, internet addiction and self-esteem scales were used in addition to questions such as age, gender, the purpose of internet use, and internet daily usage time. We used a quantitative research method to obtain cross-sectional data from 400 Turkish young people using online surveys. Correlation, regression, mediation, and moderation analyses were performed using SPSS and the PROCESS macro plugin for data analysis. Internet addiction was significantly associated with self-esteem, gender, age, and daily internet usage. In addition, we discovered that self-esteem and daily usage time played a mediation role in the effect of the age variable on internet addiction. Moreover, the moderation roles of social networks, gender, and location in the impact of self-esteem on internet addiction were determined. With this study, we understood that as age increases, self-esteem triggers the decrease of internet addiction. In this sense, policies should be developed to increase self-esteem among young people to ensure the conscious use of the internet.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/9/8/953ageinternet addictionself-esteemuniversity studentsyouth |
| spellingShingle | Orhan Koçak İlayda Yılmaz Mustafa Z. Younis Why Are Turkish University Students Addicted to the Internet? A Moderated Mediation Model Healthcare age internet addiction self-esteem university students youth |
| title | Why Are Turkish University Students Addicted to the Internet? A Moderated Mediation Model |
| title_full | Why Are Turkish University Students Addicted to the Internet? A Moderated Mediation Model |
| title_fullStr | Why Are Turkish University Students Addicted to the Internet? A Moderated Mediation Model |
| title_full_unstemmed | Why Are Turkish University Students Addicted to the Internet? A Moderated Mediation Model |
| title_short | Why Are Turkish University Students Addicted to the Internet? A Moderated Mediation Model |
| title_sort | why are turkish university students addicted to the internet a moderated mediation model |
| topic | age internet addiction self-esteem university students youth |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/9/8/953 |
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