Prediction of Internet Addiction Based on Academic Procrastination, Loneliness, and Time Management of Students at Qom University

This research aimed to predict Internet addiction based on academic procrastination, loneliness, and time management of students at Qom University in the academic year 2020-2021. The research method was a descriptive and correlational survey, and the statistical population consisted of all the students of Qom University in the academic year 2020-2021, which were 10171. According to the table of Morgan and Karjesi, the sample size was 373 people who were selected by the available sampling method. The research tools include four internet addiction questionnaires by Young's Internet Addiction (1988) with 20 questions, Solomon and Rothblum Academic Procrastination questionnaire (1989) with 27 questions and three subscales, De To Matsu et al.'s Feeling Lonely (2004) with 15 questions and three subscales, and time management. Truman and Hartley Time Management (1996) with 14 questions and 2 subscales. Statistical analysis of data was done with the help of the Pearson correlation test and regression analysis with the help of SPSS version 24 software. The results of this research showed that the variables of academic procrastination, loneliness, and time management were able to predict Internet addiction. The academic procrastination variable had a direct and significant relationship with Internet addiction (p<0.01). Also, the feeling of loneliness variable has a direct and significant relationship with Internet addiction (p<0.01). On the other hand, the time management variable had an inverse and significant relationship with Internet addiction (p<0.01). The results of the regression analysis showed that time management has more predictive power than the other two variables for Internet addiction. The beta coefficient for the academic procrastination variable was 0.148, for the feeling of loneliness variable was -0.231, and the time management variable was -0.287. Also, among the components of academic procrastination, preparation for the exam, among the components of loneliness, feelings of family loneliness, and the components of time management, confidence in long-term planning, had more predictive power for Internet addiction. The findings of this research determined that with the increase in academic procrastination in students, the addiction to the Internet increases. Also, as students feel lonelier, their use of the Internet increases. In the meantime, the greater the ability of time management in students, the less their addiction to the Internet will be. The obtained results show the importance of paying attention to the variables of work-academic procrastination, loneliness and time management in relation to the variable of Internet addiction.