Life Satisfaction and Family Communication as Protective Factors in Problematic Internet Use in University Students.

INTRODUCTION

Problematic Internet use (PIU) is considered a serious condition and a potential factor for various physical and psychological health problems, with higher prevalence rates in the young adult population, a situation aggravated by mandatory exposure to digital platforms and tools of virtual education due to the pandemic, extending the internet connection for academic, social, and leisure activities.

OBJECTIVE

Examinate if satisfaction with life and family communication constitute protective factors in the problematic use of the Internet in Peruvian university students.

METHOD

Cross-sectional study of multivariate relationship. And 621 university students participated, with a mean age of 21.63 (SD = 3.04), selected through convenience sampling.

RESULTS

According to the structural regression model, satisfaction with life and family communication has a negative impact with a combined effect of 20% in explaining PIU. Likewise, the logistic regression analysis showed that the predictor variables are associated as protective factors for PIU (odds ratio < 1,  < .01). The descriptive results show that the preferred device to connect to the Internet is the smartphone, only 20% of students use the Internet for academic purposes, around 60% connect more than 30 h a week, a 34% of university students present between serious and clinically significant problematic use.

CONCLUSION

The existence of favorable life satisfaction and positive family communication considerably reduces the risk of developing PIU.