Research Paper
The International Journal of Indian Psychology
ISSN 2348-5396 (e) | ISSN: 2349-3429 (p)
Volume 6, Issue 4, DIP: 18.01.075/20180604
DOI: 10.25215/0604.075
http://www.ijip.in | October-December, 2018
© 2018 D'Souza. L, Suresh. P & Ravi. M; licensee IJIP. This is an Open Access Research distributed under the
terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any Medium, provided the original work is properly
cited.
Personality Correlates of Internet Addiction among College
Students
Lancy D’Souza
1
*, Sukesh, P
2
, Ravi, M
3
ABSTRACT
The present study assesses the relationship between the Big Five personality traits and
internet addiction among college students studying in Mysuru city. Big five personality scale
(John & Srivastava, 1999) and internet Addiction Scale (Young, 1998) were administered to
a sample of 163 (70 male + 93 female) college students. Personality in 5 traits of students was
measured by Big five personality questionnaire and Internet addiction in 6 factors. Data were
subjected to product moment correlation and stepwise multiple regression to find out the
relationship between personality traits and internet addiction, including the personality
factors which predict internet addiction. Results revealed that four of the personality factors-
Extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness were negatively and significantly related
with internet addiction, whereas neuroticism factor was positively related to Internet
addiction. Further, multiple regression analysis revealed that only two personality factors-
neuroticism an Conscientiousness best predicted the Internet addiction to the extent of 13.6%.
Keywords: Big Five Personality Factors, Internet Addiction, College Students
Today, the budding generation is relying on technology more than ever for nearly
everything; they are making the world come closer. Cyberspace is a fascinating world with
lots of features, places, activities, people and subcultures to explore. Approximately 20% of
youth have been reported to have internet addiction (Ko et al., 2005), and approximately 45%
of elementary and junior high school students were reported by their parents to have had at
least one kind of sleep problem (Gau, 2006). In India among teenagers, the estimated
addiction to internet is 0.7% (Goel, Subramanyam & Kamath, 2013). Addiction contributes to
a notable fraction of the disease burden in mental and neurological disorders in established
market economies (Fineberg et al., 2013). Other symptoms include anger, tension and anxiety
(Goldberg, 1995), increased social maladjustment (Chandrashekara & D’Souza, 2013) and
reduced sleep quality (D’Souza, Samyukta &Tejaswini, 2018). Internet addiction disorder
(IAD) is rapidly becoming a prevalent mental health concern around the world.
Mahadevaswamy and D’Souza (2017a) in a recent study reported that internet addiction
1
(Associate Professor of Psychology, Maharaja’s College, University of Mysore, Mysore, India)
2
(III SS, MSW Student, University of Mysore, Mysuru, India)
3
(I SS, MSW Student, JSS College, Ooty road, Mysuru, India)
*Responding Author
Received: October 20, 2018; Revision Received: November 26, 2018; Accepted: December 4, 2018