Sociotropy-autonomy personality characteristics and emotion regulation difficulties as the predictors of internet addiction

The statement of the problem: The aim of this study is to examine the association of internet addiction with the sociotropy-autonomy personality characteristics, emotion regulation difficulties and life satisfaction. Method: The sample included a total of 522 adult internet users, 185 females and 337 males, identified by simple random sampling method. All participants filled out a Socio-Demografic Information Form, the Sociotropy-Autonomy Scale, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, the Internet Addiction Scale and the Satisfaction with Life Scale. In data analyses, frequency distributions were established and Independent Sample T-Test, One Way ANOVA, Mann Whitney-U, Kruskal Wallis and Spearman's rho correlation analysis were performed. Results: Our results showed that the level of internet addiction was significantly higher among males than females and had a significant and negative correlation with age among all participants. The level of sociotropy personality characteristics were significantly higher among males and autonomy personality characteristics were significantly higher among single and higher educated individuals. A negative and significant correlation was observed between age and emotion regulation difficulties. Positive and significant relationships were observed between internet addiction and sociotropy-autonomy personality characteristics and also emotion regulation difficulties. A negative and significant relationship was observed between life satisfaction and internet addiction. Emotion regulation difficulties had a positive and significant relationship with sociotropy personality characteristics and had a negative and significant relationship with life satisfaction. Conclusion: Our results show that higher emotion regulation difficulties and lower life satisfaction levels predicted higher internet addiction levels. Besides, individuals with sociotropy personality characteristics had more difficulties in emotional regulation and individuals with higher levels of sociotropy-autonomy personality characteristics had higher levels of internet addiction. These findings indicate the importance of sociotropy-autonomy personality characteristics and emotion regulation difficulties in the clinical approach of internet addiction. Key words: Sociotropy-autonomy personality characteristics, internet addiction, emotion regulation difficulties, life satisfaction.