Internet Addiction Prevalence and Relationship with Loneliness and Social Phobia in a Sample of Southern Italian High School Students from Rural Area 

Authors:

Signorelli MS¹, Geraci A²*, Concerto C¹, Sinatra S¹, Romano MV¹, Di Nuovo S² , Crea L¹ and Aguglia E¹ 

Volume 1, Issue 1

Abstract

Background and Aims: Internet addiction (IA) has become a serious mental health condition and a number of studies revealed that persistent negative consequences resulted from excessive Internet use. The aims of this study were to investigate the prevalence of IA in a sample of students attending high schools in a rural centre of Southern Italy and the relationships between IA with social phobia and loneliness. 

Method: The Italian version of the Internet Addiction Test (IAT), the University of California, Los Angeles Loneliness Scale (UCLA-LS) and the Liebowitz Social Phobia Scale (LSPS) have been administered to a sample of 551 students from two high schools in a rural area of Southern Italy.  

Results: The majority of respondents were classified as normal users of the Internet (81.12%), 18.33% were moderately addicted and 0.54% was seriously addicted. 

Use of the Internet was associated with greater likelihood of loneliness and social phobia. 

Discussion and Conclusions: Our study showed that the prevalence of excessive internet use among students living in rural areas was of 0.54%. Variability in prevalence rates can be explained by the geographical origin of samples showing the role of cultural context in affecting Internet usage. Clinical and psychological implications of pathological Internet use and future directions for research are discussed. 

Keywords:

Internet addiction; loneliness; Social phobia; Rural areas 

View PDF