School of Psychology, Bond University, Gold Coast, Qld, Australia.
School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld, Australia.
Int J Psychol. 2022 Oct;57(5):606-612. doi: 10.1002/ijop.12840. Epub 2022 Mar 8.
There has been considerable interest in trait correlates of excessive or problematic use of the internet, known as internet addiction. However, the concept of internet addiction has been criticised as too broad. Specific forms of excessive internet use, for example, social media, may have different trait correlates compared to internet use in general. The present study compared levels of internet and social media addiction symptoms in relation to three traits previously linked to one or the other form of excessive behaviour: alexithymia, narcissism and social anxiety. There were 217 young adult social media- and internet-using participants aged 18-35 years recruited from two university campuses in southeast Queensland, Australia. They completed an online questionnaire battery that included a demographics questionnaire and widely used, validated measures of narcissism, alexithymia and social anxiety. Hierarchical regressions indicated that after controlling for demographic variables, internet addiction symptoms were predicted by social anxiety, narcissism and alexithymia, whereas social media addiction symptoms were predicted only by social anxiety and narcissism. Results suggest that the association of alexithymia with internet addiction symptoms does not encompass excessive use of social media, and support the contention that the concept of internet addiction may be too broad.
人们对过度或有问题地使用互联网的特质相关性（即网络成瘾）产生了浓厚的兴趣。然而，网络成瘾的概念被批评过于宽泛。特定形式的过度互联网使用，例如社交媒体，可能与一般的互联网使用有不同的特质相关性。本研究比较了与之前与一种或另一种过度行为相关的三种特质（述情障碍、自恋和社交焦虑）有关的互联网和社交媒体成瘾症状的水平：述情障碍、自恋和社交焦虑。研究招募了来自澳大利亚昆士兰州东南部的两个大学校园的 217 名 18-35 岁的年轻社交媒体和互联网使用者，他们完成了一个在线问卷，包括人口统计学问卷和广泛使用的、经过验证的自恋、述情障碍和社交焦虑的衡量标准。分层回归表明，在控制人口统计学变量后，互联网成瘾症状由社交焦虑、自恋和述情障碍预测，而社交媒体成瘾症状仅由社交焦虑和自恋预测。结果表明，述情障碍与互联网成瘾症状的关联并不包含对社交媒体的过度使用，并支持网络成瘾的概念可能过于宽泛的观点。
