Loneliness and Self-Esteem as Predictors of Internet

Loneliness and Self-Esteem as Predictors of

Internet Addiction in Adolescents

Nurulsani S Abd Latief

Graduate School

Yogyakarta State University

Yogyakarta, Indonesia

[email protected]

Endah Retnowati

Graduate School

Yogyakarta State University

Yogyakarta, Indonesia

[email protected]

Abstract— Internet addiction in adolescents is

influenced by various factors, both of them are

loneliness and self-esteem. Therefore, this study aims to

examine the loneliness and price to internet addiction in

adolescents. The subjects in this study were 35

adolescents (23 female students and 12 male students)

who are still in Junior High School (SMP) and Senior

High School (SMA) in Kota Ternate at the age of 14-17

years old. The sampling technique used was the simple

random sampling technique. The data was collected by

using questionnaires using scales as the instrument. The

instrument reliability technique in this study was the

Cronbach Alpha. The data were analyzed using the

multiple regression technique. The results show that

loneliness and self-esteem could predict Internet

addiction in adolescents.

Keyword— internet addiction, loneliness, self-esteem,

adolescents

I. INTRODUCTION

The Internet in this era brings huge changes

throughout the world, especially for adolescents who

live in the information era, so they rely more on the

Internet for various purposes [32]. There are three

reasons for the Internet that benefit to someone’s

social connection. First, it could reduce the use of

transaction time in daily life such as online shopping

that helps to facilitate the flexibility of time, so we

may use that time with our family, friends, and

colleagues. Second, it is for various professions such

as journalism, research, computer programming, and

online marketing in which workers use the Internet as

a tool for their work which helps them to build

flexible a home-based office. Third, it is as a

communication tool that more economical than the

others, so it is more efficient to contact the family,

friends, and colleagues. Therefore, the use of the

Internet has a positive effect to the individuals’

welfare [27].

In general, the prevalence of the Internet use in

adolescents today at the age of 12-17 years old is 80

to 90 percent. They use the Internet to open

Facebook, Twitter, Blackberry Messenger, Skype,

and Plurk that have been used by many people in

social networks [11], [31], [40]. Several previous

studies have indicated that the adaptation time of

adolescents at the age of 13-14 years old will be

inclined in using social networks to socialize with

friends or family even to look for friends [11], [21].

A large number of the Internet uses allows not

only to provide positive effects for psychological

welfare but also to give negative effects such as

addiction. Addiction is when people cannot choose

freely whether to stop or continue a behavior which

means loss of control, so as to harm themselves [35].

Some previous researches also explain that the

characteristics of people who experience addiction are

the excessive use of the Internet, cannot be controlled,

and unlimited time to use it, so this disrupts the lives

of those people. In addition, Internet addiction causes

the difficulty in adjusting to the environment, which

according to the clinical aspect it is desruptive and the

source of stress [14], [38].

For adolescents, the Internet is as a negative effect

when they experience Internet addiction. According

to some previous studies, there are adverse effects on

adolescents such as psychological well-being

disorders, lack of interactions between family and

friends , poor academic performance that proved by

the decline of their scores, and barriers to the

achievement of psychological development tasks and

disruptions in their life such as isolation [16], [19],

[24]. This underlies reasons to review the variables

that affect the Internet addiction that causes adverse

effects on adolescents. Many factors that cause

Internet addiction relate to low self-control [3], [9],

[25], depression and loneliness [2], [7], [8], [23], [25],

self-esteem [1], [2], [17], [30], and life satisfaction

[2], [6]. However, there are two main factors as the

focus in this research namely loneliness and self-

esteem.

Based on the literature review and previous

research that have been described above, the purpose

of this study is to test the influence of loneliness and

self-esteem of Internet addiction in adolescents. The

importance of this research is to provide a

psychological illustration of Internet addiction that is

thought to be caused by loneliness and self-esteem, so

it may provide appropriate intervention on the issue.

The hypothesis of this study is the existence of

3rd International Conference on Current Issues in Education (ICCIE 2018)

Copyright © 2019, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 326

382

loneliness and self-esteem as a predictor of Internet

addiction in adolescents.

A. Internet Addiction and Its Correlation with

Loneliness and Self Esteem

Someone who gets addicted to the Internet can

be seen from four aspects [42] as follow:

a) excessive use of the Internet that often relates to

the loss of time awareness or ignoring basic needs, b)

the symptom of afraid to not use the Internet by

feeling fear, nervous, and depression, c) tolerance: the

need for better computer and more software, and the

excessive use of time, d) negative impacts of

argument, lies, poor performance, social isolation, and

fatigue.

Loneliness according to some studies indicates

that loneliness is considered as social isolation that

serves as an important contributor in psychological

improvement and especially about health problems.

Adolescents’ loneliness is considered as a mental

disorder. A study which investigates that loneliness

could happen several times and to stages of live

causes negative feeling and illogical thought. These

results indicate that feelings of loneliness are more

common happen to women than men [13], [28].

Loneliness is the feeling of a person who does not

feel a sense of satisfaction in his/her social

relationship accompanied by symptoms of

psychological pressure associated with the absence of

something or the feeling of loss and the feeling of

deprivation when a person does not get the expected

social relationship [3]. Several dimensions of

loneliness include a) the duration of loneliness, the

lack of self-confidence in new situations and the

length of it, b) social loneliness versus emotional

loneliness, the absence of a complementary figure

such as parents or friends. On the contrary, social

loneliness occurs when a person does not have

satisfaction and is not accepted in the social

environment that makes in his/her social relationship

boring [26].

Both dimensions of loneliness could give an

illustration to a person who gets loneliness. Therefore,

when a person is lonely, she/he often relates to

Internet addiction. Some research finds that loneliness

is the second factor that often relates to PIU

(Problematic Internet Use) which is another term of

Internet addiction. Although the beginning of the

theory said that the use of the Internet is caused by

users who feel lonely by doing social interaction via

the Internet, but another theory appears as the reverse

from the former description. The latest says that

individuals who feel lonely spend more time using the

Internet to reduce their loneliness. Therefore, the use

of the Internet is strongly related to loneliness and

increasingly excessive use of the internet [2], [32].

Other supporting studies confirm the existence of

psychological disorders such as depression and

shyness, included loneliness as the main factor of this

Internet addition. Besides, there is also social anxiety

and dependence which is an important etiological

element of the Internet usage disorder [15], [36].

Therefore, people who feel depressed and lonely can

be more easily exposed to Internet adddiction.

Furthermore, research from [15] shows the

relationship between loneliness and embarrassment

with Problematic Internet Use in adolescents at the

age of 14-15. The result shows the relationship

between these two variables with Problematic Internet

Use with loneliness as a mediator in the relationship.

Besides loneliness, Internet addiction could also

be caused by self-esteem in adolescents [1], [30].

Self-esteem is an experience and a prerequisite to stay

alive, in other hands, every individual believes that

he/she has right to be happy and deserve to enjoy the

success he/she get from the challenges [4], [7].

Individuals who have high self-esteem are those who

have a living awareness, self-concept, self-

responsibility, self-assertiveness, a purpose in life,

and personal integrity. However, when a person does

not have those six pillars, his/her self-esteem will be

low [4].

In some previous studies, it has shown that

adolescents with low self-esteem tend to spend time

in social media networks rather than those with high

self-esteem. In other words, a person with low self-

esteem, especially in women, could cause someone

addicted to the Internet [1], [12], [23]. To know how

one’s self- esteem can be seen from two aspects [5]:

sense of personal efficacy which means an individual

believes in choosing, judging, thinking and taking a

decision and confidence in oneself, and sense of

personal worth which means an individual believes in

the values which are believed have positive attitude

toward the right to live happily .

II. RESEARCH METHOD

The research approach used in this research is a

quantitative approach which is ex post facto research.

The research was conducted in Ternate. The subjects

were 35 adolescents (12 boys and 23 girls). Subjects

in this study were adolescents aged 14-17 years who

are in the moment studying in Junior High School

(SMP) and Senior High School (SMA) because at

these ages the Internet users are at the highest. The

sampling technique used was the simple random

sampling technique. The instrument validity

technique used was the content validity and the

internal consistency while to test the reliability, the

Cronbach alpha technique formula was applied. The

Internet addiction scale has the alpha Cronbach value

at 0.828, the loneliness scale is at 0.691, and the self-

esteem is at 0.643. The data analysis technique used

is multiple regression analysis.

Data collection techniques in this study were g

questionnaires. The research instruments used a


383

scale consist of 3 scales: the Internet addiction scale,

the loneliness scale, and the self-esteem scale. The

internet addiction scale consists of 25 statement

items, the second scale is the loneliness scale

consisting of 31 statement items, and the self-esteem

scale consists of 46 statement items. The first scale,

internet addiction, which refers to Young and Abreu

Theory (2011) consists of 4 aspects: excessive use,

withdrawal symptoms, tolerance, and negative

impact, the loneliness scale refers to Peplau Theory

(1988) which consists of 3 aspects: duration, social

loneliness, and emotional loneliness, and the self-

esteem scale refers to Branden’s Theory (1994) which

consists of a sense of personal efficacy and a sense of

personal worth. This study also asked some questions

to find out how long the subjects use the internet in a

day and at what age the subjects start using the

internet so that the percentage of both questions

could be shown.

III. RESULT AND DISCUSSION

A. Result

Diagram 1 presents the time used by adolescents

accessing the Internet. The highest time of the

Internet use in adolescents is 54% about 5-7 hours a

day while 29% of them access the Internet for 7-8

hours a day and 17% of them access the Internet for

9-12 hours a day. Diagram 2 describes the age of the

subjects starting to use the Internet. The results are

that 71% of adolescents have known to access the

Internet at the age of 11-15 , at the age 7-10 by 29%

and at the age of 16-17 by 0%. It can be concluded

that most of them started to use the Internet at the age

of 11-15.

Table 1 shows descriptive statistics containing

mean, standard deviation, and total number of

subjects (N) in each variable. It shows that the mean

values of the loneliness variables (m= 92.51, SD =

13.214) and self-esteem variables (m= 124.80, SD=

12.980) with the internet addiction variable (m =

77.74, SD = 14.797). The range of data from the

internet addiction, loneliness, and self-esteem are 46-

109; 69-117; and 109-169.

TABLE I. DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS OF RESEARCH DATA

The result of multiple regression analysis shows

that the significance test is smaller than alpha (0.05),

so it can be concluded that loneliness and self-esteem

can predict the existence of adolescents who have

internet addiction. The contribution of loneliness

variable and self-esteem to internet addiction is seen

from value F = 3.875, Mean square = 725.703, P =

0.031, R square = 0.195. Because R square = 0.195,

so it can be interpreted that loneliness and self-esteem

only contribute at 19,5% to internet addiction and

80,5 % is donated from other variables that not be

examined in this research -2.741. In table 2. the value

of t-constant number is 4.109 and loneliness = -1.205

and self-esteem = -2.741.

Table 2 presents regression equation obtained in

this group that is Y = 184.141 + (-0.610X). Besides,

the analysis result also shows the result of the

loneliness variable analysis and self-esteem separately

to the internet addiction through t-test. The

significance value of the self-esteem variable is 0.010

which is smaller than the alpha (0.05), while the

significance value at loneliness is 0.237 which shows

greater than alpha (0.05). Therefore, self-esteem can

be used as a predictor of the internet addiction in

adolescents, while loneliness cannot.

TABLE II. COEFFICIENTS

Statistic

Internet

Addiction

Loneliness

Self

Esteem

Mean 77,74 92,51 124,80

Std. Deviation 14,797 13,214 12,980

Minimum 46 69 109

Maximum 109 117 169

Model

Unstandardized

Coefficients

Standar

d

Coeffici

ents T Sig.

B Std.

Error Beta

(Constant) 184,141 44,816 4,109 0,000

Loneliness -0,264 0,219 -0,235 -1,205 0,237

Self esteem -0,61 0,223 -0,535 -2,741 0,010


384

B. Discussion

The results of the analysis through statistical

regression shows that the hypothesis tested in this

study are accepted. This shows that loneliness and

self-esteem can be used as predictors of Internet

addiction in adolescents. Based on the data obtained,

the correlation coefficient between loneliness and

self-esteem of internet addiction is 0.031, and the

coefficient of determination or R square is 0.195. This

figure indicates the contribution of the loneliness

variable and self-esteem researched in this study

amounted to 19.5% while the remaining 80.5% was

contributed by other variables not examined in this

study. This value alone can predict internet addiction

without having to be lonely. This self-esteem

indicates an average value (m = 124.80, SD =

12.980). This shows that in adolescents, the level of

their self-esteem is low, so low self-esteem can

predict internet addiction because self-esteem can

describe feelings of meaning and security in

adolescents so that adolescents are able to show

themselves to others, how they behave and how

considerate they are in their environment, but if they

do not get it then they will experience low self-

esteem [41].

In addition, the results obtained from the average

value on loneliness are (m= 92.51, SD = 13.214).

However, loneliness does not affect internet addiction

in adolescents. It is because basically adolescents

who are in loneliness could be caused by several

factors namely a) the role of internal and external

emotional regulations. Those are very important to

adolescents’ development and adjustment because

when a teenager get unpleasant things that affect

his/her self-esteem, life satisfaction, and optimism, it

is necessary to regulate and manage emotions and

maintain themselves positively and reduce their

loneliness by themselves (b) the existence of a

positive self-concept, otherwise the adolescent has a

negative self-concept and will tend to perceive

themselves as bad and have no reliable ability,

resulting in feelings of insecurity, lack of self-

acceptance and usually low self-esteem. This suggests

that adolescents could not form friendly friendships

that could lead to loneliness [18], [29], [34], c) the

quality of relationship with parents may reduce

loneliness in adolescents. This is because adolescents

need interpersonal closeness with their parents, show

emotional and behavioral reactions. Adolescents who

lose a figure from parents could feel lonely [10],

[20], and d) social skills in adolescents could be

linked to loneliness. Good social skills will reduce

social loneliness [18].

IV. CONCLUSION

Based on the above analysis results, loneliness and

self-esteem could together predict internet addiction

in adolescents, but if both of them are separated, the

results show that loneliness and internet addiction

have no significant relationship. Self-esteem and

internet addiction have a significant relationship

especially for the adolescents who have low self-

esteem. There are other factors that become

predictors of internet addiction, such as self-control,

depression, low life satisfaction level, so that the

loneliness factor does not affect a person getting

internet addiction.

Suggestion

There are two suggestions that would be given by

the researchers. The first is for parents of adolescents.

They must keep a good relationship with their

children, so loneliness does not occur to the children,

because one factor of loneliness that occurs to the

children is relating to the parents’ role. The second is

for further research. It is expected the further research

to be made clearest in the methodological side by

adding or observing other variables and other research

subjects.

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Loneliness and Self-Esteem as Predictors of Internet