The Impact of Internet Addiction on Life Satisfaction and Life Engagement in Young Adults

This study examined the impact of Internet addiction (IA) on life satisfaction and life engagement in young adults. A total of 210 University students participated in the study. Multivariate regression analysis showed that the model was significant and contributes 8% of the variance in life satisfaction (Adjusted R2=.080, p<.001) and 2.8% of the variance in life engagement (Adjusted R2=.028, p<.05). Unstandardized regression coefficient (B) indicates that one unit increase in raw score of Internet addiction leads to .168 unit decrease in raw score of life satisfaction (B=-.168, p<.001) and .066 unit decrease in raw score of life engagement (B=-.066, p<.05). Means and standard deviations of the scores on IA and its dimensions showed that the most commonly given purposes of Internet are online discussion, adult chatting, online gaming, chatting, cyber affair and watching pornography. Means and standard deviations of the scores on IA and its dimensions across different types of social networking sites further indicate that people who frequently participate in skype, twitter and facebook have relatively higher IA score. Correlations of different aspects of Internet use with major variables indicate significant and positive correlations of Internet use with IA, neglect of duty and virtual fantasies. Implications of the findings for theory, research and practice are discussed.