Examining psycho-social variables that predict internet addiction among adolescents

The purpose of the study was to determine some psychosocial variables that to predict internet addiction among adolescents. These psychosocial variables were loneliness, perceived social support, life satisfaction, romantic relationship status, gender, perceived academic success and socio-economic status. This study is a descriptive regressional study.700 high school students (9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grades) were enrolled in this study. They were chosen from high schools in Çeşme, Izmir at the education year of 2009-2010. 333 of sample were female, 367 of them were male.?Internet Addiction Scale? was used to assess internet addiction at adolescence. ?UCLA Loneliness Scale?, ?Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scale? and ?Life Satisfaction Scale? were used for assessing psychosocial variables. ?Personal Information Form? was given to adolescents in order to have their demographic infomation and data about their internet use habits.SPSS 15.0 was used for all statistical analysis. Frequency distribution, Pearson Correlation Coefficient, t-test, one-way ANOVA and Hierarchical Regression Analysis were used for statistical analysis.Gender, perceived academic success, loneliness and perceived social support from family were found to have predictive value on internet addiction among adolescents.