Internet Addiction and Emotion Regulation Difficulties in Patients Diagnosed With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity...

This study aims to examine the relationship between internet addiction and emotion regulation difficulties in individuals with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Sixty-three patients diagnosed with ADHD according to DSM-5 and 63 healthy controls were included in our study. Sociodemographic data form, Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS), Young Internet Addiction Scale (YIAS), Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), Barratt Impulsivity Scale-11 (BIS), and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were applied to both groups.

According to the independent samples t-test, the ADHD group had higher scores on YIAS (t=4.754, p<0.001), ASRS (t=11.832, p<0.001), DERS (t=7.167, p<0.001), lack of emotional awareness (t=2.411, p=0.017), clarity (t=5.976, p<0.001), non-acceptance of emotional reactions (t=3.724, p<0.001), impulsivity (t=5.976, p<0.001), goal (t=8.298, p<0.001), strategy (t=5.210, p<0.001), and means were found to be statistically significantly higher than the control group (CG). According to the Pearson correlation analysis, no statistically significant correlation was found between the YIAS scores and other scale scores in the ADHD group. According to Pearson correlation analysis, a statistically significant positive correlation was found between the YIAS scores in the CG and the ASRS (r=0.474, p<0.01) and inattention (r=0.450, p<0.01) scores. According to the regression analysis, lack of emotional awareness, non-acceptance of emotional reactions, and BDI were found to be significant predictors of risky internet use.

It has been determined that risky internet use increases in adults with ADHD and that some emotion regulation difficulties increase the risk.