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Life Satisfaction and Family Communication as Protective Factors in Problematic Internet Use in University Students
Walter Capa-Luque1, Luz Elizabeth Mayorga-Falcón1, Evelyn Barboza Navarro1
1Facultad de psicología, Universidad Nacional Federico Villarreal, Lima, Perú.
Introduction:
Problematic Internet use (PIU) is considered a serious condition and a potential factor for various physical and psychological health problems, with higher prevalence rates in the young adult population, a situation aggravated by mandatory exposure to digital platforms and tools of virtual education due to the pandemic, extending the internet connection for academic, social, and leisure activities.
Objective:
Examinate if satisfaction with life and family communication constitute protective factors in the problematic use of the Internet in Peruvian university students.
Method:
Cross-sectional study of multivariate relationship. And 621 university students participated, with a mean age of 21.63 (SD = 3.04), selected through convenience sampling.
Results:
According to the structural regression model, satisfaction with life and family communication has a negative impact with a combined effect of 20% in explaining PIU. Likewise, the logistic regression analysis showed that the predictor variables are associated as protective factors for PIU (odds ratio < 1, p < .01). The descriptive results show that the preferred device to connect to the Internet is the smartphone, only 20% of students use the Internet for academic purposes, around 60% connect more than 30 h a week, a 34% of university students present between serious and clinically significant problematic use.
Conclusion:
The existence of favorable life satisfaction and positive family communication considerably reduces the risk of developing PIU.
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