Problematic Internet Use, Mindfulness and Perceived Social Support among Adolescents

Abstract

Problematic Internet Use (PIU) has grown into cause for concern due to the rapid advancement of the internet especially in school going adolescents. Joseph conducted a study through meta-analysis in India and found that 21.5% of school going adolescents showed moderate level of problematic internet use, while 2.6% reported severe level, indicating a significant concern for the public health (2022). The present study was conducted to examine the role of mindfulness and perceived social support in relation to PIU and explored gender differences. The sample comprised of 100 school going adolescents, 50 boys and 50 girls with age range of 15-18 years, randomly selected from government schools in the Tricity region of Chandigarh, India. Standardized tools were used, The Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire (PIUQ-18) (Demetrovics, Szeredi, & Rózsa, 2008), Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) (Brown & Ryan, 2003), and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) (Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet, & Farley, 1988). Results show that no significant gender differences in PIU, mindfulness, or perceived social support. However, correlation analysis indicated that greater mindfulness and perceived social support were significantly associated with lower PIU scores.