The mediating role of emotional autonomy in the relationship between perceived acceptance-involvement parental attitude and internet addiction

The aim of this study is to examine the mediating role of independence, the sub-dimension of emotional autonomy, on the relationship between perceived acceptance-involvement parental attitude and Internet addiction of the middle school students. It is a correlational study. The relationships between the variables of the study such as perceived acceptance-involvement parental attitude, emotional autonomy and Internet addiction were investigated through a multiple mediation analysis. In 2017-2018 academic year, 495 secondary school students from Akdağmadeni District of Yozgat province were selected through availability sampling method out of 1481 students in population. Of these 5 th, 6 th, 7th and 8th grade students, 247 were girls and 248 were boys. Data collection tools of the study are Personal Information Sheet, Perceived Parental Altitude Scale, Emotional Autonomy and Internet Addiction Scale. In this research, using the Structural Equality Model, the mediating role of the independence autonomy was examined in explaining the relationship between perceived acceptance-involvement parental attitude and Internet addiction. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentage, standard deviation, and correlation were used to describe the variables. In the analysis of the study, AMOS 21 00 and SPSS 22.00 programs were used. As a result, it was concluded that there was a significant negative relationship between perceived acceptance-affection, parental attitude and Internet addiction of 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th graders. The result of the mediation analysis indicated that the independence autonomy had a partial mediating role in explaining the relationship between perceived acceptance-involvement, parental altitudes and Internet addiction. According to the results, a negative correlation was found between acceptance-involvement parental attitude and Internet addiction. While the relation of the independence autonomy to the perceived acceptance involvement parental attitudes was positive, its relation to addiction was negative. As the independence autonomy was taken into the account as a mediator variable, its role in the relationship between perceived acceptance involvement parental attitudes and Internet addiction was partial mediating. According to this result, as the parents the more affectionate and caring towards their children, they are more likely to have higher their emotional independence and the less likely to be Internet addicts.