TITLE:
Loneliness or Materialism, Which Is a Better Predictor of Internet Addiction?
AUTHORS:
Srikant Manchiraju
KEYWORDS:
Loneliness, Materialism, Internet Addiction
JOURNAL NAME:
Social Networking,
Vol.7 No.3,
July
18,
2018
ABSTRACT: In recent years, the widespread prevalence of loneliness, materialism, and Internet
addiction have been widely studied. Studies have addressed either loneliness
or materialism and its relationship with Internet addiction. However, to
date, no study has addressed all three concepts in a single study. The purpose
of this study was: 1) to investigate whether loneliness or materialism is a reliable
predictor of Internet addiction and 2) what is the nature of the relationship
among these variables across gender. Data were collected from a crosssectional
online-survey, which consisted of US adults (N = 311). The survey
consisted of 42 items related to the key constructs. Additionally, some demographic
variables were also included in the survey. Loneliness was not associated
with Internet addiction. On the other hand, materialism was strongly
associated with Internet addiction. The aforementioned relationship was valid
across gender. Between loneliness and materialism, materialism was a strong
predictor of Internet addiction.