Study of the psychological characteristics of the personality of students with varying degrees of severity of Internet addiction

Abstract

Nowadays, the Internet has a serious impact on the human psyche, and this problem is only gaining momentum. During the COVID-19 pandemic, as part of a forced necessity, the whole world moved to the global information space. There are both pros and cons to such absolute digitalization. We, as psychologists, will be interested in the other side of the coin. On the basis of this, we conducted an empirical study dedicated to the study of the psychological characteristics of the personality of students with varying degrees of severity of Internet addiction. This article will present the results of a study involving 250 students from various universities in Russia. In the course of empirical research, we used the following methods: an author’s questionnaire to determine the amount and quality of time spent by respondents on the Internet; Diagnostics of the tendency to 13 types of addictions (G.V. Lozovaya); Test “Self-assessment of mental states” (G.Yu. Eysenck); Methodology “Diagnostics of typologies of psychological defense” (R. Plutchikas adapted by L.I. Wasserman, O.F. Eryshev, E.B. Klubova, etc.); Methodology for «Determining stress resistance and social adaptation» of Holmes and Rage; Kimberly Young «Internet Addiction Test». The results obtained in the course of the research can be used by practicing psychologists, psychotherapists, clinical psychologists when working with addicts and co-addicts. The presented results can be applied in the practice of the educational process as prevention of Internet addiction.