TY - JOUR
T1 - The Effects of Demographics, Technology Accessibility, and Unwillingness to Communicate in Predicting Internet Gratifications and Heavy Internet Use Among Adolescents
AU - Dhir, Amandeep
AU - Chen, Sufen
AU - Nieminen, Marko
PY - 2016/6
Y1 - 2016/6
N2 - Despite the fact that research examining Internet gratifications is over two decades old, it has still failed to provide conceptual links depicting the relationships among Internet gratification, Internet users' characteristics, and heavy Internet use. To address these gaps, a survey-based study was conducted with a total of 1,914 adolescent Internet users (aged 12-18 years). The study results indicate that heavy Internet use is likely to be displayed by older male adolescents with more Internet use experience. In comparison, adolescents exhibiting higher reward seeking and improved academic performance are not likely to also exhibit heavy Internet use. Furthermore, adolescents seeking higher connecting gratification are likely to exhibit heavy Internet use, but an increase in their information-seeking gratification is associated with a reduction in their Internet use. In terms of predicting Internet gratifications, it was found that older female adolescents with higher academic performance, higher reward seeking, and lower daily Internet use tend to seek higher content gratification. Similarly, adolescents exhibiting higher approach avoidance and reward seeking tend to seek higher social and content gratifications. The study concludes with the theoretical and practical implications for various stakeholders, including Internet researchers and practitioners, educational researchers, and technology designers and developers.
AB - Despite the fact that research examining Internet gratifications is over two decades old, it has still failed to provide conceptual links depicting the relationships among Internet gratification, Internet users' characteristics, and heavy Internet use. To address these gaps, a survey-based study was conducted with a total of 1,914 adolescent Internet users (aged 12-18 years). The study results indicate that heavy Internet use is likely to be displayed by older male adolescents with more Internet use experience. In comparison, adolescents exhibiting higher reward seeking and improved academic performance are not likely to also exhibit heavy Internet use. Furthermore, adolescents seeking higher connecting gratification are likely to exhibit heavy Internet use, but an increase in their information-seeking gratification is associated with a reduction in their Internet use. In terms of predicting Internet gratifications, it was found that older female adolescents with higher academic performance, higher reward seeking, and lower daily Internet use tend to seek higher content gratification. Similarly, adolescents exhibiting higher approach avoidance and reward seeking tend to seek higher social and content gratifications. The study concludes with the theoretical and practical implications for various stakeholders, including Internet researchers and practitioners, educational researchers, and technology designers and developers.
KW - adolescents
KW - demographics
KW - heavy Internet use
KW - Internet gratifications
KW - technology accessibility
KW - uses and gratifications research
KW - unwillingness to communicate scale
KW - COLLEGE-STUDENTS
KW - ONLINE
KW - ADDICTION
KW - WEB
KW - TELEVISION
KW - MOTIVES
KW - USAGE
U2 - 10.1177/0894439315582854
DO - 10.1177/0894439315582854
M3 - Article
SN - 0894-4393
VL - 34
SP - 278
EP - 297
JO - Social Science Computer Review
JF - Social Science Computer Review
IS - 3
ER -