Abstract

The present study aims to corroborate associations between Internet addiction and psychopathological symptomatology. For this purpose, a sample of 418 participants, between the ages of 18 and 35, completed a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Internet Addition Test and the Brief Symptom Inventory depression, anxiety, hostility and interpersonal sensitivity scales. The factorial structures and the internal consistencies of the scales were analyzed. We observed that 87.8% of the participants had low to mild addition, being males significantly more addicted. Internet addiction was positively associated with depression, anxiety, hostility, and interpersonal sensitivity. Moreover, analyzing the differences between the three levels of addition present in the sample, we found significant differences in the psychopathological symptomatology among all groups, except for hostility. Our study concludes that Internet addiction is a problematic with associations to psychopathological symptomatology, emphasizing the need for greater attention on the part of the health professionals, regarding the habits developed online and the individual’s own perception of their degree of addition.

Authors and Affiliations