Philippine E-Journals

Loneliness and Experiential Avoidance as Predictors of Internet Addiction Among Adolescent Students

Jodel C. Eugenio | Daniel D. Manuel | Ms. Patricia D,P. Simon

 

Abstract:

The aim of the study was to find out if loneliness and experiential avoidance were significant predictors of internet addiction among adolescents who used the internet mainly for online gaming. The researchers used a quantitative research design. To estimate the significant predictive relationship of the independent variables namely loneliness and experiential avoidance to the dependent variable which is internet addiction, multiple regression was applied. The participants of this study were 166 Filipino adolescents with ages ranging from 15- 19 who use the internet mainly for online gaming for more than 12 months. The UCLA Loneliness Scale Version 3 was utilized to measure the loneliness by Dan Russell. It is a 20-item scale self-report test used to measure loneliness, as well as the feelings of social isolation of a person. Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II was also used and finally the Internet Addiction Test validated by Waldo (2014) in order to suit the scale to Filipino adolescents. The results revealed that loneliness and experiential avoidance were significant predictors of internet addiction, both are positively correlated with each other.