Internet Addiction and Impulsivity among Adolescents

Internet is one of the transformational technologies having marvelous impact on psychosocial life. However, internet is becoming addictive which is the condition of being compulsively occupied with or involved in something. Internet addiction may lead to impulsive behavior which is a swift action without forethought or conscious judgment. The purpose of the present study was to compare 13-15 and 16-18 years old adolescents on the measures of internet addiction and impulsivity and also examine their relationship. A two group design was followed and the total sample consisted of 90 internet addicted (low to moderate) adolescents, with equal number of two age groups. They were administered internet addiction test (Young, 1999) and Barratt's Impulsiveness Scale (Barratt, 1994). The data was analyzed using t-test and correlation. Significant group differences were found between 13-15 and 16-18 years old adolescents on the measures of overall impulsivity and overall internet addiction and its dimensions of mood and relationships. Moreover, 13-15 years old adolescents indicated more significant relations between two constructs as compared to 16-18 years old adolescents. Hence, both the above constructs are important in accounting for age differences in adults.