THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INTERNET ADDICTION AND SUICIDAL IDEATION, ATTITUDES TOWARD A PREMARITAL RELATIONSHIP WITH OPPOSITE SEX, AND ADDICTION BASED ON GENDER SEPARATION (CASE STUDY: THE YOUTH OF GOLESTAN PROVINCE)

  With the increasing and widespread access of people to the Internet, we are witnessing a new type of addiction, namely Internet addiction. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the relationship between Internet addiction and suicidal tendencies, attitudes toward premarital relationships and addiction based on gender separation in young adults in Golestan province.

 This research is correlational. The statistical population includes all students of Golestan province in the academic year of 2018-2019. The sampling method was random cluster sampling, and the sample size was 756 subjects. The research materials included Young’s Internet Addiction Test (1998), Kordloo’s Attitude and Tendency to the premarital relationship with the opposite sex Questionnaire (2010), Beck’s Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire (1979), and Theoretical Addiction Questionnaire (Nazari,2001). Data were analyzed using the Pearson correlation test and stepwise regression analysis with SPSS software version 23.

The results showed that there is a significant relationship between Internet addiction and addiction tendency, attitude toward the premarital relationship with the opposite sex, suicidal ideation, suicidal preparation, and suicide in female youth, and suicidal ideation in male adolescents (p<0/05). The results of regression analysis also showed that Internet addiction can predict the aforementioned components in the study groups (p<0/01).

Internet addiction influences the increase in the tendency to suicidal ideation, addiction, and premarital relationship with the opposite sex.