The Relationships of Familial Emotional Atmosphere, Self-Control and Sleep Quality with Internet Addiction in Adolescents

In recent decades, the use of the Internet as a suitable and affordable means of communication has become increasingly popular among people, especially young people. However, the excessive use of this technology has led to negative physical, behavioral and psychological consequences, causing concern in many families and even in authorities involved in the educational system. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the association of family emotional atmosphere, self-control and sleep quality with Internet addiction in teenagers.

This research was a cross-sectional and descriptive correlational study. The statistical population was all the 300 male students in the 4th to 6th grades of two non-governmental high schools in Rasht city, Iran in the academic year of 1401-1401. A sample of 169 was selected based on the Morgan's Krejci table and using the available sampling method. The data collection tools were the Young's internet addiction, Pittsburgh sleep quality, Tanji self-control and Nodargah family emotional atmosphere questionnaires.

The analysis of the data showed that there is a significant positive correlation between Internet addiction and family emotional atmosphere (r=0.597) and sleep quality (r=0.331), while a negative and significant correlation exists between self-control and Internet addiction (r=0.668). Furthermore, the regression test results showed that all the three variables, namely family emotional atmosphere, self-control and sleep quality, can predict the changes in the internet addiction variable, such that per one standard deviation change in the familial emotional atmosphere, self-control and sleep quality a change of 0.163,  ̶ 0.382 and 0.375 deviation occurs in Internet addiction. Finally, simultaneous regression analysis showed that 51% of the students' internet addiction level can be explained by family emotional atmosphere, self-control and the students' sleep quality.

Based on the findings it is concluded that the variables family emotional atmosphere and sleep quality have a direct positive, while self-control has an inverse negative, relationship with Internet addiction. In addition, the family emotional atmosphere, high self-control and good sleep quality are effective in managing the use of the Internet by teenagers, which would mean that the proper awareness of parents and school counselors of the subject can help prevent internet addiction in teenagers.