Relationship of Well-being with Internet Addiction

Internet addiction is a new psychological disorder, rapidly increasing both mainstream and proficient acknowledgement. This exploratory research endeavored to examine the relationship between Well-being and Internet Addiction. The sample for this study comprised of 200 internet addicts (100 males & 100 females) with age-range of 20–28 years, recruited from different parts of Punjab. Friedman Well-being Scale (Friedman, 1992) and Internet Addiction Test (Young, 2014) were employed to test the proposed hypothesis. Further, the data was analyzed using Co-relation, t-test and stepwise multiple regression to study the relevant relationships, gender differences and contribution. Results showed significantly inverse relationship between Internet addiction and Well-being. Findings of t-test indicated that Male young adults were higher on Internet Addiction than female young adults. While female young adults outnumbered their male counterparts on different levels of Well-being. Stepwise Multiple Regression output indicated that two components of Well-being i.e. Emotional Stability and Sociability were found to be the significant predictors of Internet Addiction. Further, the present study demands an awareness of one's well-being among the young adults and track the conceivable pathways from initially mild overuse to inevitable neurotic enslavement.