Predictors of problematic Internet use on Turkish university students

Abstract

The current study set out to examine the relationships between the levels of problematic Internet use and gender, having any addiction problems, the level of psychological symptoms, and some online experiences related to the Internet use of university students. Data was gathered from 437 university students. The results indicated that factors such as gender, level of psychological symptoms, connecting to the Internet most often at night, and using the Internet primarily to communicate with their relatives and friends and to have a good time predicted significantly the level of the problematic Internet use of the students. Moreover, the predictors differentiated in terms of the domains of the problematic Internet use.