Identifying the most important psychological antecedents of Internet addiction based on a meta-analysis approach: evidence from internal studies
Subject Areas : Journal of Iranian Social Development Studies
houshang garavand
1
,
Mohammad Reza Nazari
2
1 - Assistant Professor of Psychology Department, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Lorestan University,
Khorramabad, Iran
2 - Head of Cyber space Monitoring of the Cultural & Social Deputy of Iranian Police (FARAJA), Tehran, Iran.
Keywords: meta-analysis, psychological consequences, Internet addiction,
Abstract :
Considering the novelty of studies related to Internet addiction in Iran, the investigation andidentification of psychological factors predicting this phenomenon is evident as a research gap; Therefore, thepresent study was conducted with the aimed to identifying the most important psychological antecedents ofInternet addiction through a meta-analytical research procedure. The method of conducting the research is aquantitative meta-analysis. In the process of systematic review, 195 articles were identified from 2002 to 2022,and by carefully studying the text of Persian articles by university professors and experts, 108 articles wereidentified. Life satisfaction (ES, -0.65), problem-oriented coping (ES, -0.45), difficulty in regulating emotions(ES, 0.45), interpersonal sensitivity (ES, 0.45), sensation seeking (ES, 42 0.0), feeling lonely (ES, 0.41),depression (ES, 0.39), anxiety (ES, 0.38), psychological capital (ES, -0.37), depression (ES, 0.36) , stress (ES,0.35) and emotional intelligence (ES, -0.35) were identified as the strongest antecedents, respectively. Due to theheterogeneity in the studies, studies with validity (ES, -0.15) had a larger effect size than studies withoutvalidation (ES, 0.06). Based on the results, the manner of using internet can be related to psychologicalcharacteristics of the internet users. It is expected that these findings not only improve the knowledge of thisfield, but also support protective factors and removing risky behaviors. Additionally, it can be used as a helpfultool in intervention programs in this field.
