The role of social support on internet addiction

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of social support on Internet addiction. One hundred and ninety three students at National Taiwan University participated in this study. They completed the real life social support questionnaire, Internet social support questionnaire, and Chinese Internet Addiction Scale. Results revealed that real life social support had a negative relation with Internet addiction, Internet social support had a positive relation with Internet addiction, and real life and Internet social support had a significant interaction effect on Internet addiction, suggesting that the relationship between internet social support and Internet addiction was moderated by the amount of real life social support. Finally, the author adopted attachment theory to explain the role of social support on Internet addiction.