(2017) Science and education, 7, 31-36. Odessa.

Larysa Ilnytska,
senior lecturer, Department of Theory and Methods of Practical Psychology,
Ushynsky University,
26, Staroportofrankivska Str., Odessa, Ukraine

PECULIARITIES OF INTERNET-ADDICTED PERSONALITY’S LOCUS OF CONTROL

The research hypothesis implies that significant narrowness of value and motivation sphere of an internet-addicted personality leads to the formation of virtual reality, results in his/her orientation at external assessment criteria, distortion of reality, decrease of the sense of responsibility, and thus, the violation of his/her interaction with the surrounding environment. The paper aims to determine the correlations of locus of control and the expressiveness of internetaddicted behavior manifestation. The survey involved 98 students of Ushynsky University aged from 19 to 24 using the The Chen Internet Addiction Scale, Rotter's Locus of Control Scale, and T. Dembo-S. Rubinshtein Method. For the statistical processing of empirical data, the following methods were used: Mann-Whitney U-test, Kruskal-Wallis test, and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. The statistical data analysis has shown that person’s propensity for internet-addicted behavior is correlated with general externality and externality in the field of work relations, achievements and failures. Persons prone to internet addiction are characterized by the decreased level of self-esteem and aspirations. The absence of the sense of responsibility, lack of self-trust, inability for critical assessment of one’s own actions and oneself, for designing a constructive image of the future leads to the violations in the system of interaction with reality. As a result, an internet-addicted personality cannot build an adequate image of a situation, orients at external assessment criteria from virtual worldview which leads to the increase of externality. The research hypothesis has been confirmed.

personality, internet addiction, locus of control, internality, externality.

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