Personality Traits, Online Relationships and Internet Addiction

碩士 === 輔仁大學 === 心理學系 === 89 === As the popularity of the Internet grows as well as its users, the problems caused by pathological internet use (PIU) such as family conflicts, academic failure, and deteriorating job performance, are gaining more attention then before. However, the psychological mech...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Wang, Chen-Hua, 王澄華
Other Authors: Lin, Yi-Cheng
Format: Others
Language:zh-TW
Published: 2001
Online Access:http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/15482011306767918003
Description
Summary:碩士 === 輔仁大學 === 心理學系 === 89 === As the popularity of the Internet grows as well as its users, the problems caused by pathological internet use (PIU) such as family conflicts, academic failure, and deteriorating job performance, are gaining more attention then before. However, the psychological mechanism behind PIU is yet clear, for the scarcity of research done on this issue. What the general public knows about PIU, or Internet addiction, is mostly stereotypes learned from the media. The fact that people get addicted to the Internet has overshadowed the efforts put by the governments worldwide to encourage their people to go online. Learning more about the Internet addiction has become an urgent issue now. Most of the studies done before have all concentrated on pinpointing the addictive personality traits or additive Internet activities. However, there exist many different types of Internet addiction, including Internet sex addiction, Internet relationship addiction, compulsive Internet use, information anxiety, and computer addiction. Internet users with variant personality traits are drawn to different Internet activities, which would lead to disparate kinds of Internet addiction. Internet addition is the results of the interaction between Internet addictive traits and addictive activities. The efforts to single out certain type of addictive personality trait or any addictive Internet activity without taking into consideration the interaction effect would be confusing rather than clarifying our understanding on Internet addiction. In this research we first focus on the features of the online relationships, and then on the personality traits that are most easily to be drawn to the relationships online. Virtual relationships are featured by higher level of intimacy, self-disclosure, and uncertainty than in real life. Among all the three styles of attachment, the internal working model of the ambivalently attached are the closest to those features of the Internet described above. The Internet also provides the opportunity for individuals to engage in role reconstruction. People with low self-esteem, who usually have lesser self-concept clarity, might have been attracted to this Internet feature. The results of the study show that those who are more involved in the online relationships are more inclined to get addicted to the Internet. Ambivalent individuals compared to secure or avoidant people scored higher on the Chinese Internet Addiction Scale (CIAS). People low in self-esteem and those who are less certain on their self-descriptions are more prone to be Internet addicted. However, the interaction effects are not found between online relationship involvement and ambivalence, self-esteem, or self-concept certainty. Further discussion about the interaction effects can be found in the thesis.