Social Anxiety and Loneliness Leads to Internet Addiction

Abstract

The study aim is to find the impact of social anxiety and loneliness on internet addiction. The study was conducted on young adults of Pakistan. Cross sectional research design was used in this study. A sample of 200 young adults with age range 17- 28 appearing for test at center participated in survey. Constructs are measured by social anxiety questionnaire scale for adults (SAQ-A) by Caballo et al., (2010), UCLA Loneliness scale (Russell et al., 1978) and Internet addiction test (IAT) (Kimberly, 1998). Results of Pearson moment correlation shows that social anxiety and internet addiction has positive correlation (r= .89), whereas the relationship between loneliness and internet addiction also found to be positive (r= .84). ANOVA test results indicate that mean difference of social anxiety, internet addiction and loneliness is high in age group (17-20). Multiple regression analysis shows that social anxiety and loneliness are positive predictors of internet addiction among young adults. It was concluded that social anxiety and loneliness are present among peoples, and it adds negative feeling in their life. Moreover, it impacts an individual’s daily life functioning. Internet addiction is also associated with social anxiety and loneliness. With the increase in level of social anxiety and loneliness, internet addiction is also increased.