Relationship between Internet Addiction and Self-Esteem of Adolescents in Selected Schools at Aluva

 

Anjaly Martin¹, Athira C.P², Libi Augustine³, Martha Josphere⁴, Sisira T.S⁵, Tolsy Poly⁶,

Besi Paul⁷, Ammu Rajan⁸

^1-6Third year BSc Nursing students, Carmel College of Nursing, Aluva

⁷Asst. Professor, HOD, Department of Mental health nursing, Carmel College of Nursing, Aluva

⁸Lecturer, Department of Mental health nursing, Carmel College of Nursing, Aluva

 

ABSTRACT:

Background:

Internet is an inevitable component of modern life. People tend to use or overuse technology in their faster life. At the same time with its advantages, internet has its own disadvantages. Researches have identified many factors that contribute to internet addiction. Self esteem is found to be one among them. The present study is intended to identify the relationship between internet addiction and self esteem.

Objectives :

The present study is aimed to identify the relationship between self esteem and internet addiction among adolescents.

Materials and methods:

A total of 40 adolescents studying in Crescent Public school, Aluva participated in the study. Samples were selected using convenient sampling technique. Data were collected using demographic proforma, Rosenberg Self Esteem scale (RSES) and Intenet addiction scale(prepared by researchers).

Findings and conclusion:

52.5% of adolescents were occasional internet users, 42.5% of adolescents were average internet users and 5% of adolescents were occasional/frequent problem users. 92.5% of adolescents reported that they used internet for educational purposes and 82.5% adolescents used it for accessing social media.The study couldn’t identify a significant relationship between internet addiction and self esteem of adolescents (r=0.0290). There was a significant association between internet addiction and selected socio-personal variables such as gender (χ2=3.84). The study couldn’t prove the proposed relationship between self esteem and internet addiction.

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INTRODUCTION:

Problematic computer use is a growing social issue which is being debated worldwide. Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD) ruins lives by causing neurological complications, psychological disturbances, and social problems.¹ The considerable variance of the prevalence rates reported for IAD (between 0.3% and 38%)² may be attributable to the fact that diagnostic criteria and assessment questionnaires used for diagnosis vary between countries and studies often use highly selective samples of online surveys³. In their review Weinstein and Lejoyeux¹ report that surveys in the United States and Europe have indicated prevalence rates varying between 1.5% and 8.2%. Other reports place the rates between 6% and 18.5%⁴.

 

Excessive Internet use, which is also called uncontrolled use of the Internet, pathological Internet use, net addiction or Internet addiction, causes problems at work and in social life^5,6. Internet addiction is generally defined as an uncontrollable desire to use the Internet, the devaluation of time spent without connecting to the Internet, intense nervousness and aggression in the event of deprivation, and progressive deterioration of social and family life⁷. The growing number of studies conducted on Internet addiction reveals that Internet Addiction Disorder is a psychosocial disorder, the features of which include lack of patience, symptoms of isolation and emotional disorders and interruption of social relations⁸.

 

The relationship between Internet addiction and self esteem has been investigated in several studies. These studies have revealed that personality traits, self-esteem and psychiatric disorders are associated with Internet addiction⁹. Young (1998) reported that the vast majority of Internet addicts have a history of depression and anxiety. Low self-esteem has also been reported¹⁰. In some other studies, self-esteem has emerged as a factor associated with Internet use and problematic Internet use. In addition, research on self-esteem and use of the Internet includes studies examining adolescents' use of some social networking sites and its association with their self-esteem. These studies have shown that adolescents with low self-esteem tend to spend more time on social networking sites than those with higher self esteem^11,12.

 

A study that aimed to examine the role of self esteem on adolescents Internet addiction conducted among 324 Turkish adolescents showed that general self esteem, social self esteem, family home self esteem and total self esteem were significantly and negatively correlated with Internet addiction. Social self esteem and family home self esteem were also found to be significant predictors of Internet addiction.¹³ Another study conducted among 1467 Internet users to assess the problematic Internet use and self esteem revealed that self esteem was strongly and negatively associated with Internet Related Problem Scale (IRPS).¹⁴ The present study aims to identify the relationship between internet addiction and self esteem.

 

OBJECTIVES OF STUDY:

Objectives of the study were to,

·        Assess the internet addiction of adolescents.

·        Assess the self-esteem of adolescents.

·        Determine the relationship between internet addiction and self-esteem of  adolescents.

·        Find the association of internet addiction of adolescents with selected socio -personal variables.

·        Develop and distribute an information booklet on hazards of internet use and tips  for healthy use of social media.

 

HYPOTHESES:

H 1: There is a significant relationship between Internet addiction and self-esteem of  adolescents.

H 2: There is a significant association of Internet addiction of adolescents with selected socio- personal variables.

 

RESEARCH DESIGN:

Descriptive correlational survey design

 

SETTING:

A Selected English Medium School at Aluva.

 

SAMPLE SIZE :

A total of 40 students studying in higher secondary section of A Selected English Medium School at Aluva participated in the study. Convenient sampling technique was used to recruit samples.

 

DATA COLLECTION TOOLS

Tool 1: The demographic proforma 

It included 11 items such as age, gender, type of family, education of father,  education of mother, occupation of mother, occupation of father, monthly income, type of  residence, religion and purposes of the internet use.

 

Tool 2: The internet addiction scale

The tool was developed by the researchers. It consisted of 20 statements that measured the level of Internet addiction. The items were rated on a 6 point scale of 0-5., where 0 indicates doesn’t apply 1 rarely, 2 occasionally, 3 frequently, 4 often and 5 always. Addiction levels were calculated by adding the score for each item. The scores of the scale ranged from 0-100. The higher the score, the greater will be the level of addiction. Those who obtained scores between 0-24 were classified as occassional internet users, 25-49 as average users, 50-74 as occasional or frequent problem users and 75-100 as significant problem users.

 

Tool 3: Rosenberg self esteem scale (RSES)

The scale was developed by sociologist Dr. Morris Rosenberg. It is 10 item Likert- type scales with items answered on a four- point scale- from strongly agree to strongly disagree. Five of the items have positively worded statements and five have negatively worded ones. The scale measures state self-esteem by asking the respondents to reflect on their current feelings. It uses a scale of 0-30, where a score less than 15 may indicate a problematic low self-esteem, 16-25 indicates normal self-esteem and > 25 indicates high self-esteem.

The reliability of the tool is already established and Cronbach’salpha value for its reliability is 0.79.

 

RESULTS:

SECTION 1: Description of socio-personal variables

Table 1: Frequency and percentage distribution of socio-personal variables                                       n=40

Socio-personal variables	Frequency(F)	Percentage %
Age (in years)
15	4	10%
16	16	40%
17	18	45%
18	2	5%
Type of family
Joint family	10	25%
Nuclear family	29	72.5%
Extended family	1	2.5%
Education of father
Primary education	1	2.5%
High school	16	40%
Higher secondary	14	35%
Graduate	9	22.5%
Post Graduate	1	2.5%
Others	5	12.5%
Post Graduate	15	37.5%
Others	3	7.5%

 

 

 

 

Table 1: Continued

Education of mother
High school	1	2.5%
Higher secondary	3	7.5%
Graduate	14	35%
Occupation of father
Unemployed	0	0%
Coolie worker	0	0%
Self employed	20	50%
Government employee	0	0%
Private employee	20	50%
Occupation of mother
Unemployed/Home maker	30	75%
Coolie worker	0	0%
Self employed	5	12.5%
Government employee	3	7.5%
Private employee	2	5%
Monthly income
<Rs10,000	3	7.5%
>Rs10,000	37	92.5%
Religion
Christian	8	20%
Muslim	29	72.5%
Hindu	3	7.5%

 

Data given in the table shows that 45% adolescents were of age 17. Majority, 72.5% students belonged to nuclear family. 40% of fathers had education up to graduation and 37.5% mothers had education up to graduation. Majority 75% of mothers were unemployed and 50% of fathers were self-employed and private employee. 92.5% of families had a monthly income above Rs.10000. Majority 72.5% students belonged to Muslim community.

Commonly reported reasons for internet use

 

Figure 1: Purposes of internet use among adolescents

 

SECTION 2: Description of internet addiction among adolescents

Data given in the figure shows that 52.5% of adolescents were occasional internet users, 42.5% of adolescents were average internet users and 5% of adolescents were occasional/frequent problem users. None of the samples were significant problem users.

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 2: Description of internet addiction among adolescents

 

 

SECTION 3: Description of self-esteem among adolescents

 

Figure 3: Description of self-esteem among adolescents

 

Total self-esteem score was categorized into 3 categories viz good self-esteem with score of 26-30, normal self-esteem with score of 16-25 and low self-esteem with score of 0-25. Data depicted in the doughnut diagram shows that majority, 78% of students had normal self-esteem, 15% had low self-esteem and 7% had good self-esteem.

 

SECTION 4: Association between Internet addiction and selected socio-personal variables

Table 2: Association between Internet addiction and selected socio-personal variables                    n=40

Socio-personal variables	χ2	t – value
Age (in years)
15-16	3.5577	3.84
17-18
Gender
Male	4.82	3.84*
Female
Type of family
Joint and Extended family	0.30066	3.84
Nuclear family
Education of father
Up to high school
Higher secondary	0.65829	7.82
Graduation and above
Others
Education of mother
Up to high school
Higher secondary	3.03213	7.82
Graduation and above
Others
Occupation of father
Self employed	0.1002	3.84
Private employee
Occupation of mother
Unemployed
Self employed	1.82964	7.82
Government employee
Private employee
Monthly income
<Rs10,000	0.00812	3.84
>Rs10,000
Religion
Christian
Muslim	0.2628	5.99
Hindu

*Indicates significant association

 

Chi-square test was used to find the association between internet addiction and selected socio-personal variables and the hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance. Data presented in the table shows that there is a significant association between internet addiction and selected socio-personal variables such as gender.

 

SECTION 5:  Correlation between internet addiction and self-esteem.

Table 3: Correlation between internet addiction and self-esteem. n=40

 

Correlation between internet addiction and self-esteem was calculated using Pearson’s correlation and the r value was found to be 0.0290. This indicates that there is no significant relationship between self-esteem and internet addiction.

 

SUMMARY:

The present study concluded that there is no significant relationship between self esteem and internet addiction among adolescents.

 

REFERENCES:

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Received on 06.11.2017           Modified on 16.12.2017

Accepted on 07.02.2018         © A&V Publications all right reserved