INTERNET ADDICTION BEHAVIORS AS PREDICTORS OF FUNCTIONAL IMPAIRMENT AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS: A BASIS FOR INTERVENTION PROGRAM

Abstract

The internet was originally used for military purposes to facilitatecommunication. However, commercialization leads to worldwide internet use.The demand for the internet is increasing and numerous studies have beenpublished regarding the pathological use of the internet or internet addiction.This study aimed to investigate internet addiction as a predictor of functionalimpairment in young adults. A total of 257 young adults participated and filledout a self-report questionnaire including Internet Addiction Test (IAT) and WeissFunctional Impairment Rating Scales Self-Report (WFIRS-S). There were 161(62.6%) females and 96 (37.4%) males. The participants' ages range were from18 years old to 24 years old (M=20.25, SD= 2.08). Pearson correlation wasconducted to examine the relationship between Internet Addiction (Salience,Excessive Use, Neglect Work, Anticipation, Lack of Control, and Neglect SocialLife) and Functional Impairment (Family, Work, School, Life Skills, Self-Concept,Social, and Risky Activities). The result shows that there were significant positivecorrelations among variables at N=257, p < .05 except between self-conceptand neglect social life. Multiple regression analyses were also utilized to findpredictors of Functional Impairment (FI) in terms of Internet Addiction (IA).Regression results suggest that IA variables namely: Salience, Neglect Work,Lack of Control, and Neglect Social Life are possible predictors of FI in theFamily, Work, School, Self-Concept, Social and Risk. However, no evidence wasfound in excessive use and anticipation of using the internet to functionalimpairment. In addition, the result has shown that life skills are not associatedwith any of the predictors