The mediating role of aggression in the relationship between procrastination and internet addiction among adolescents

The purpose of this study was to determine the mediating role of aggression in the relationship between procrastination and Internet addiction in adolescents.

The research method was descriptive-correlational and the statistical population of the study included high school adolescents in cultural, educational, sporting and recreational centers in the second semester of the academic year of 2016-2017 in Tehran, among which 250 were selected through available and volunteered sampling method. The study tools were Internet Addiction Test by Young (1998); aggression questionnaire by Buss & Perry (1992); Procrastination Scale by Tuckman (1991).

The results of this study showed that the total path coefficient between procrastination and Internet addiction is positive and significant at 0.01 level (P<0.01, β=0.687). The path coefficient between verbal aggression (P<0.01, β=0.25) and physical aggression (P<0.01, β=0.058) are with Internet addiction are positive and significant at 0.01. The path coefficient between procrastination and verbal aggression (P<0.013, β=0.63) and procrastination and physical aggression (P<0.01, β=0.702) are positive and significant at 0.01. Indirect path coefficient between procrastination and Internet addiction is positive and significant at 0.01 level (P<0.01, β=0.548).

With increasing procrastination and frustration, aggression appears. The Internet is likely to provide the real world, especially for adolescents with aggressive attitudes to nurture, the ideal identity to offset their shortcomings.