Российский психологический журнал (Sep 2023)
Young people and the Internet: subjective factors in choosing online behavior strategies
Abstract
Introduction. Technologies and digital communication play a crucial role in everyday life. With the increasing number of people spending a significant amount of time online, the study of subjective factors influencing online behavior strategies becomes highly relevant. The novelty of this research lies in identifying online behavior strategies among young individuals and examining the factor structures of young people with different online behavior strategies. This article presents the results of studying the personality traits of students with various online behavior strategies. Methods. Various methods were employed, including theoretical analysis and summarization of research findings on this issue; psychodiagnostic research methods; mathematical and statistical analysis (descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U-test, cluster analysis, factor analysis). In the study, 177 students aged 17 to 21 participated. Two groups were distinguished in order to differentiate students based on their online behavior strategies: students with an entertainment-oriented Internet behavior (n = 124) and students with a productive-oriented Internet behavior (n = 53). Results. The following results were obtained: among contemporary youth who are active in the online environment, two strategies of online behavior are identified - entertainment-oriented online behavior strategy and productive-oriented strategy. The choice of behavior strategy is related to the respondents' personality traits. Significant differences were found between the groups of students with different online behavior strategies in terms of adaptability, self-acceptance, and autonomy. Discussion. The authors examine the personality traits of youth with different online behavior strategies. In conclusion, it is concluded that the factor structures of students with different online behavior strategies differ.
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