Modeling the Structural Relationships of Internet Addiction Based on Executive Functions, Interpersonal Problems, and Alexithymia in Seventh-Grade Female Students

Today, the use of the Internet has brought many benefits to society, but this development has caused problems and disabilities in many dimensions for individuals, a problem known as internet addiction disorder. Many intrapersonal factors affect Internet addiction among adolescents. Various factors impact the tendency to become addicted to the Internet, among which interpersonal problems can be mentioned. Also, alexithymia plays a significant role in teenagers' tendency to use the Internet. Executive functions are cognitive and metacognitive processes that help teenagers pay attention to and finish the task's main points. Internet addiction is a disorder that causes disability and functional defects and creates psychological, social, academic, and work disorders. This study aims to model the structural relationships of internet addiction based on executive functions, interpersonal problems, and alexithymia in seventh–grade female students.

This descriptive–correlational study was based on regression structural equation modeling. The statistical population comprised all female students in the seventh–grade schools of districts 1, 7, and 8 of Tehran City, Iran, in the academic year of 2018–2019. We used Loehlin (2004) volume estimation method to determine the sample size. Basically, we considered 30 to 50 samples for each latent variable. So, considering 4 latent variables and the possibility of incomplete questionnaires, 260 students were selected using the cluster random sampling method. In this study, the inclusion criteria comprised female students in the seventh grade who were living and studying in districts 1, 7, and 8 of Tehran, were interested in cooperating in research, and lacked any mental illnesses. The exclusion criteria comprised a lack of cooperation in research and becoming sick. Data were gathered via the Cognitive Abilities Questionnaire (Nejati, 2013), the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (Barkham et al., 1996), the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (Bagby et al., 1994), and the Internet Addiction Test (Young, 1996). Data analysis was also performed using structural equation modeling in SPSS 24 and AMOS 24 software.

The findings showed that the effects of total interpersonal problems (p<0.001, β=0.646) and executive functions (p<0.001, β=–1.257) on the Internet addiction variable were significant. Also, the direct effect of interpersonal problems (p<0.001, β=0.401), executive functions (p<0.001, β=–0.297), and emotional malaise (p<0.001, β=0.629) on the variable Internet addiction was significant. On the other hand, the indirect effects of interpersonal problems (p<0.001, β=0.245) and executive functions (p<0.001, β=–0.960) on the Internet addiction variable were estimated using the Bootstrap estimation method. The presented model had a good fit (AGFI=0.987, RMSEA=0.042, GFI=0.993, CFI=0.957, χ2/df=2.924).

According to the findings, the present research model has statistically acceptable fit indices. Executive functions and interpersonal problems are the most important factors in predicting Internet addiction. The results also showed how the emotional numbness variable can act as the mediating variable.