A Qualitative Exploration of the Etiological Factors Underlying Adolescents’ Tendency toward Internet Addiction
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Objective: The aim of the present study was to qualitatively examine the etiology of adolescents’ tendency toward internet addiction.
Methods and Materials: This research was conducted using a qualitative approach and thematic analysis. Participants were a number of adolescents aged 12 to 18 years who were selected through purposive sampling based on high scores on Young’s Internet Addiction Test and willingness to participate in the study. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews and field notes, and were analyzed concurrently with data collection using open, axial, and selective coding.
Findings: The findings indicated that adolescents’ tendency toward internet addiction results from the multilayered interaction of individual factors (deficits in emotion regulation, need for belonging and approval, feelings of loneliness, perfectionism, and escape from the real self), family factors (insufficient parental monitoring, marital conflict, permissive or authoritarian parenting styles, and parents’ media-use patterns), school-related factors (academic pressure, failure in peer relationships, experiences of rejection and labeling), and sociocultural factors (widespread availability of the internet, normalization of excessive use in the media, and a lack of healthy alternatives for leisure time). At the process level, the internet was experienced by adolescents as a strategy for emotion regulation, compensating for relational deficiencies, and constructing a virtual identity, which in turn led to the maintenance and intensification of addictive use.
Conclusion: Based on these results, it seems essential to design multilevel preventive programs focusing on enhancing emotion regulation skills, empowering parents, improving the school climate, and providing healthy patterns of media use in order to reduce adolescents’ tendency toward internet addiction.
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