청소년의 인터넷 중독적 사용과 가족의 기능적 특성과의 관계

Study of the Relationship between Family Function and Internet Addiction among Adolescents

Objectives：The rapid increase in internet use has had a negative as well as a positive influences on our society. In particular, internet use has had a great impact on the development of adolescents. The causes of internet addiction can be found to be both psychological and environmental. The author has researched the family environment of internet users as an important environmental factor in internet addiction. Methods： Participants in the study were drawn from middle schools and high schools located in Seoul. The participants were divided into those with an addiction and those without an addiction to the internet. The author used the family functioning scale developed by Epstein, Baldwin, and Bishop (1983) to identify differences between the addicted and non-addicted groups. In addition, the author investigated the influence of family functioning on internet addiction. Results：The result showed that internet-addicted users were less effective than non-users in five areas of family function：role, affective response, affective involvement, behavior control, and general family functioning. In addition, there were gender differences in family functioning. That is, internet-addicted boys experienced more difficulty in problem solving for family members than girls did. There were also differences in family functioning between middle school and high school students：middle school students experienced difficulties in communicating with other family members, while high school students showed a deficiency in affective involvement. Multiple regression was conducted in order to identify which variables in family functioning could predict Internet addiction. The results showed that in male students two variables predicted Internet addiction：problem solving and affective response；whereas in female students, one variable predicted Internet addiction, i.e. affective involvement. The combined sub-variables of family functioning served to explain the 23%variance of internet-addiction for middle school students and 35% for high school students. Conclusion：These results suggested that adolescents with ineffective family functioning demonstrate Internet addiction.