TITLE:
Technological Use Behaviors, Internet Addiction and Personality among Italian University Students
AUTHORS:
Eugenia Treglia, Rosella Tomassoni
KEYWORDS:
Use of Internet, Risk of Internet Addiction, Personality
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.9 No.3,
March
30,
2018
ABSTRACT: Aims of this study are to evaluate the technological use behaviors among university students and the relationship between the type of use/abuse of internet and some personality characteristics. The sample consists of 435 Italian university students. The Multidimensional Personality Profile (MPP) test and the Questionnaire about the Internet use, abuse and addiction (UADI), have been administered online but in the experimenter’s presence. The use of the Internet in our sample is mainly not a problematical one. Significant correlations were found between Self regulation and Dissociation (r = -0.36) and between Machiavellism/cynism and Escape (r = 0.36), Dissociation (r = 0.33) and Experimentation (r = 0.34). The results of the correlations suggest that the more people are able to set purposes, monitor actions, organise and deal with matters with order and method (Self-Regulation), the less they will tend to have dissociative experiences connected to the use of Internet (Dissociation). A high level of cynicism correspond a high tendency to use Internet to escape from reality, a high tendency to dissociation and to aggressive/transgressive behaviours online. In conclusion it is necessary to consider the complex psychological dynamics in the relationship between the subject and the technological tool.