Abstract

LEDUR, Bianca; SCHMITT, Marina  and  ANDRETTA, Ilana. The Online World: Interactions between Internet Addiction, Feelings of Loneliness, and Family Relations. Gerais, Rev. Interinst. Psicol. [online]. 2023, vol.16, n.1, e18864.  Epub Jan 20, 2025. ISSN 1983-8220.  https://doi.org/10.36298/gerais202316e18864.

The Internet, used as a mean of communication and information exchange, may damage social interactions for users with problematic use since, in an attempt to cater to the need for relationships, they may end up using it even more, generating a vicious cycle. Our study aims to evaluate the associations between Internet addiction, feelings of loneliness, and family relationships, as well as identify possible differences in the investigated variables between those addicted and non-addicted to the internet in a stratified sample of 109 university students from a private university in southern Brazil. The following instruments were used: Implicit Association Test, Familiograma, and the Brazilian UCLA Loneliness Scale (UCLA-BR). The results show high levels of Internet addiction and loneliness among the sample, with significant associations and comparisons between those variables, suggesting that Internet addicted users have greater feelings of loneliness and conflict in family relationships, identifying that the variables influence one another.

Keywords : Internet; Loneliness; Family relationships.

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