Comparison the Emotional and Social Intelligence, Academic Anxiety and Epistemological Beliefs in Internet Addicted and Non-Addicted Students

This research aimed to comparison the emotional and social intelligence, academic anxiety and epistemological beliefs in internet addicted and non-addicted students. The present study was applied in terms of purpose and was comparative causal in terms of procedure method. The study population was the second high school students of Babol city in the academic years 2018-19. Based on the Cochran's formula, the sample size was estimated 374 people, who were selected by multi-stage cluster sampling method. Data collection tools included the questionnaires of internet addiction (Young, 1998), emotional intelligence (Bradberry & Graves, 2004), social intelligence (Silvera & et al, 2001), academic anxiety (Philips, 1979) and epistemological beliefs (Schommer, 1993). To analyze the data was used from multivariate analysis of variance with using SPSS-20 software. The findings showed that internet addicted and non-addicted students were significantly different in terms of all four variables of emotional and social intelligence, academic anxiety and epistemological beliefs (p < 0.05). In the other words, internet addicted students than internet non-addicted students were at a lower level in terms of emotional intelligence, social intelligence and epistemological beliefs and higher in terms of academic anxiety. According to the results of the present study, internet addicted students in compared to internet non-addicted students were in a more unfavorable position in terms of all four variables of emotional and social intelligence, academic anxiety and epistemological beliefs. Therefore, it is necessary for education experts, school psychologists and counselors to hold courses and workshops for students and their families to understand the phenomenon of internet addiction and its consequences and thereby reducing their internet addiction.