Uso autoinformado de Internet en adolescentes: perfil psicológico de un uso elevado de la red

Excessive use of the Internet, defined by the number of hours spent surfing the web, can affect an adolescent's social life and school performance, and as a consequence, lead parents to seek psychological help. In order to know the level and characteristics of Internet use among adolescents, determine the psychological profile of excessive Internet use and create a model that can predict it, a study with a probabilistic sample of 359 adolescents (12-17 years old) from the city of Girona has been carried out. Personality (NEO-FFI), coping (ACS), hopelessness and Internet use have been evaluated. Among the subjects studied, 6.7% devote more than 30 hours a week to the Internet (more than four hours a day) and 10.2% remain connected after midnight (especially the boys). Surfing the Internet from ones own computer after midnight, coping by finding relief among other peers and feelings of hopelessness are the best indicators of elevated Internet use.