Abstract
Despites having a proliferation of research in students’ excessive Internet use, most of them tend to emphasise on its pathological aspects and adverse effects on students’ daily routines, lacking a holistic elucidation of the interplay between students’ Internet use and their social behaviours in the real-world. The aim of this study is to deepen our understanding of how adolescents’ Internet use is associated with their offline social behaviours. A cross-sectional survey with 559 participants (aged 12 – 19) was conducted. Two sets of questionnaires were administered to the participants to probe their patterns of Internet use together with their selfreported pro-social and anti-social behaviours in the real-world. The results indicate that (1) anti-social behaviours in the real-world are associated positively with delinquent Internet use; (2) pro-social behaviours in the real-world have a negative association with delinquent Internet use; (3) anti-social behaviours in the real-world are associated positively with delinquent Internet use; and (4) delinquent Internet use has a positive association with prosocial Internet use. We argue that most online behaviours are not purely delinquent or prosocial, but mixed. Adolescents and young people exhibiting anti-social behaviours in the real world are prone to delinquent Internet use and vice versa.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 253-267 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Journal | British Journal of Arts and Social Sciences |
Volume | 12 |
Issue number | 2 |
Publication status | Published - Mar 2013 |
User-Defined Keywords
- Internet Addiction
- Problematic Internet Use
- Structural Equation Modelling
- Pro-social Behaviour
- Anti-social Behaviour