The characteristics of internet addiction adolescents and their families

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 bot...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Dukanac Vesna, Džamonja-Ignjatović Tamara, Milanović Marko, Popović-Ćitić Branislava
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Belgrade, Faculty of Philosophy, Institute of Psychology 2015-01-01
Series:Psihološka Istraživanja
Subjects:
Online Access:http://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/0352-7379/2015/0352-73791502165D.pdf
_version_ 1818840566800056320
author Dukanac Vesna
Džamonja-Ignjatović Tamara
Milanović Marko
Popović-Ćitić Branislava
author_facet Dukanac Vesna
Džamonja-Ignjatović Tamara
Milanović Marko
Popović-Ćitić Branislava
author_sort Dukanac Vesna
collection DOAJ
description 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.
first_indexed 2024-12-19T04:12:14Z
format Article
id doaj.art-9c729b888bfc4d93b6424ed12ca3fab2
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 0352-7379
2560-306X
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-19T04:12:14Z
publishDate 2015-01-01
publisher University of Belgrade, Faculty of Philosophy, Institute of Psychology
record_format Article
series Psihološka Istraživanja
spelling doaj.art-9c729b888bfc4d93b6424ed12ca3fab22022-12-21T20:36:23ZengUniversity of Belgrade, Faculty of Philosophy, Institute of PsychologyPsihološka Istraživanja0352-73792560-306X2015-01-0118216518010.5937/PsIstra1502165D0352-73791502165DThe characteristics of internet addiction adolescents and their familiesDukanac Vesna0Džamonja-Ignjatović Tamara1Milanović Marko2Popović-Ćitić Branislava3University of Belgrade, Faculty of Medicine - Institute of Mental Health, Belgrade, SerbiaUniversity of Belgrade, Faculty of Political Sciences, Belgrade, Serbian/aUniversity of Belgrade, Faculty for Special Education and Rehabilitation, Belgrade, SerbiaThe 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.http://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/0352-7379/2015/0352-73791502165D.pdfinternet addictionadolescentstemperamentcharacter traitsfamily functioning
spellingShingle Dukanac Vesna
Džamonja-Ignjatović Tamara
Milanović Marko
Popović-Ćitić Branislava
The characteristics of internet addiction adolescents and their families
Psihološka Istraživanja
internet addiction
adolescents
temperament
character traits
family functioning
title The characteristics of internet addiction adolescents and their families
title_full The characteristics of internet addiction adolescents and their families
title_fullStr The characteristics of internet addiction adolescents and their families
title_full_unstemmed The characteristics of internet addiction adolescents and their families
title_short The characteristics of internet addiction adolescents and their families
title_sort characteristics of internet addiction adolescents and their families
topic internet addiction
adolescents
temperament
character traits
family functioning
url http://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/0352-7379/2015/0352-73791502165D.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT dukanacvesna thecharacteristicsofinternetaddictionadolescentsandtheirfamilies
AT dzamonjaignjatovictamara thecharacteristicsofinternetaddictionadolescentsandtheirfamilies
AT milanovicmarko thecharacteristicsofinternetaddictionadolescentsandtheirfamilies
AT popovicciticbranislava thecharacteristicsofinternetaddictionadolescentsandtheirfamilies
AT dukanacvesna characteristicsofinternetaddictionadolescentsandtheirfamilies
AT dzamonjaignjatovictamara characteristicsofinternetaddictionadolescentsandtheirfamilies
AT milanovicmarko characteristicsofinternetaddictionadolescentsandtheirfamilies
AT popovicciticbranislava characteristicsofinternetaddictionadolescentsandtheirfamilies