Correlation of Selected Socio-personal Determinants with Internet Addiction and Comorbid Mental Health Problems among Adolescent Boys and Girls

Description

Page: 310-314

Vitasta Dhawan and Tejpreet Kaur Kang (Department of Human Development & Family Studies, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab)

The way millennials, often referred to as digital natives, communicate and interact with each other has drastically changed due to the Internet. Young individuals nowadays are heavily reliant on the internet, making it a central aspect of their lives that is difficult to resist. The majority of mental health problems arise during adolescence, yet parents and children often miss identifying and treating them. The present study aimed to study the socio-personal characteristics and their association with internet compulsion and co-occurring mental health problems among college-going boys and girls. The results depicted that boys exhibited a direct relationship between the size of their family and a tendency to neglect their work when it comes to internet usage. On the other hand, for girls, the order in which they were born in their families was found to be associated with a decrease in feelings of depression and the presence of comorbid mental health issues. Keywords: Internet addiction, depression, anxiety, stress, adolescents.