A sociological study of Internet dependence due to peer communication (Case study of high school students in districts 2 and 3 of education in Mashhad)

The purpose of this study is students' dependence on the Internet due to communication with peers. This research has been done with emphasis on the theory of Internet dependence and peer socialization approach. From the methodological point of view of the quantitative survey-based approach, 396 people have been selected as the sample size among the high school students in the 2nd and 3rd high schools of Mashhad, based on the Cochran's formula. Random multi-stage cluster sampling and standardized questionnaire were used. Findings were analyzed by SPSS software using statistical tests. The total alpha value is 0.863 and the convergence validity is 0.650. The results showed that the average status of research variables was moderate and some of its dimensions were moderate. The results also show that there is no difference between Internet dependence and communication with peers with the gender variable. There was a significant difference between age groups and Internet dependence; In addition, a significant relationship with moderate intensity was found between the main hypothesis of communication with peers with internet dependence rate and a significant relationship with low intensity between sub-hypotheses with internet dependency variable. According to the regression beta, the components of relationship type and relationship quality at the error level less than 0.05 had a significant relationship with the dependent variable and the independent variable and its dimensions explained about 39.3% of the dependent variable changes.