The Digital Trap Ensnaring High School Youth: How Do Personality Traits and Family Relations Influence Problematic Internet Use?

The aim of this study is to examine the effects of high school students' personality traits and parental relationship qualities on their problematic internet use. The sample of this study, designed according to the relational research model, consists of a total of 1295 high school students, 746 girls and 549 boys. The data in the study were obtained with the Demographic Information Form, Problematic Internet Use Scale-Adolescent, International Personality Inventory Short Form and Parent-Adolescent Relationship Quality Scale-Adolescent Form. Pearson product moment correlation technique and hierarchical regression analysis were used to analyze the data. According to the research findings, problematic internet use causes negative effects on extroversion, conscientiousness, openness to experience, and positive relationship quality with father and mother. Introversion, disorganization, emotional imbalance, closedness to experience, and negative relationship quality with father and mother are positively related. At the same time, personality traits explain 14.6% of the model, father-parent relationship quality explains 3%, and mother-parent relationship quality explains 2.6%. It was reported that the model explained 20.2% of the total variance.