Relationship of emotional health with internet addiction

Pages: 385-390
Harprit Kaur and Amandeep Kaur (Department of Psychology, Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab )

Internet Addiction Disorder refers to the excessive usage of Internet. It is a multidimensional construct which is associated with problematic behaviors due to uncontrolled
involvement with internet. This disorder is developing at a rapid rate worldwide, especially among the student population. Emotional Health refers to the individual’s optimum management of his/her emotions. The emotional health has two facets, i.e. the lack of ability to describe and feel emotions (Alexithymia), and the deficits in regulating the emotions (Emotional dysregulation). The current research purports to explore the relationship of Emotional health among young adults with Internet addiction. For this purpose, four standardized tools, namely, Internet Addiction Test (IAT-20) (Young, 2014); Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) (Bagby et al., 1994); and Difficulties in Emotional Regulation Scale (DERS) (Gatz & Roemer, 2004) were administered to a sample of 200 young adults (internet addicts) in the age range of 20- 28 years. Further, the data was analyzed using Co-relation, t-test and stepwise multiple regression to study the relevant relationships, gender differences and predictive contribution. Statistically significant positive relationship was found between Emotional health and Internet addiction among young adults. Significant gender contrasts were also explored. Stepwise multiple regression output revealed that Emotional health, as a whole accounted for 73.7% variability in internet enslavement among the young adults. Results and their implications are discussed in the article.