Revista de informes de antropología

Abstracto

Medicina Psicosomática 2017: La depresión y la impulsividad como mediadores de la relación entre la ansiedad social y la adicción a Internet - Catherine SoKum Tang - Universidad Nacional de Singapur

Catalina So-Kum Tang

Internet es un entorno cada vez más virtual y sus funciones asociadas se han incorporado a la vida cotidiana de las personas. Con el rápido aumento de usuarios, existe una creciente preocupación de que el uso de Internet pueda volverse problemático para algunas personas. La adicción a Internet, o uso problemático de Internet, se refiere a preocupaciones, impulsos o comportamientos excesivos o mal controlados con respecto al uso de la computadora y el acceso a Internet que conducen a deterioro o angustia. Las personas que son adictas a Internet también muestran síntomas similares a la adicción al alcohol y las drogas, como cambios de humor, incapacidad para reducir el consumo, síndrome de abstinencia, tolerancia, conflicto y recaída. Los adictos a Internet usan Internet regularmente durante períodos ilimitados, aislándose de otras formas de interacción social y concentrándose casi exclusivamente en Internet en lugar de en los eventos más amplios de la vida. Los estudiantes de secundaria y universitarios corren un riesgo sustancial de desarrollar adicción a Internet, ya que a menudo tienen acceso gratuito e ilimitado a Internet y se espera que utilicen esta tecnología con fines de aprendizaje. De hecho, los estudios han demostrado que la adicción a Internet es más frecuente entre los adolescentes y los adultos jóvenes en comparación con la población general. En el caso de los estudiantes universitarios, las estimaciones de prevalencia de la adicción a Internet oscilan entre el 5% y el 16% en los Estados Unidos y los países asiáticos. En cuanto a las diferencias regionales, los estudios transculturales han descubierto que los estudiantes universitarios de los países asiáticos suelen mostrar tasas más altas de adicción a Internet que sus homólogos de los Estados Unidos. Los estudiantes universitarios adictos a Internet tienden a experimentar una variedad de dificultades académicas, trastornos de salud y salud mental, problemas de conducta y alteración de las rutinas diarias. Se ha descubierto que la adicción a Internet está relacionada con el deterioro cognitivo/neurológico y el bajo rendimiento académico.

Ansiedad social:

 Social anxiety refers to persistent fear and distress of interpersonal situations that often leads to the anticipation of embarrassment or humiliation. Socially anxious individuals frequently avoid interpersonal situations, adopt maladaptive coping, and seek out a “quick” way to alter their sustained negative emotional states. They frequently turn to alcohol and drug in order to reduce their anxiety and apprehension. More recently, the Internet has emerged as an alternate platform/outlet for individuals with social anxiety. As compared to face-to-face interaction, the Internet provides a seemingly safe and less threatening platform to communicate and interact with other people, to search for information, and to shop for merchandise. Social anxiety is salient in university students, whose major developmental tasks focus on forming relationships and self presentation. With the accessibility and extensive spread use of the Internet, socially anxious students may perceive Internet use as a safe behavior in reducing anxiety or the probability of rejection and negative feedback from others. Over time, these students may begin to invest a disproportionate amount of attention, time, and effort on the Internet. They may become increasingly rely on the Internet as a way of avoiding the challenges and demands of social situation. This reliance on the Internet may then lead to addiction like use of the Internet. Indeed, the association between social anxiety and Internet addiction has been found among university students in various countries. Studies also show that individuals who rely on the Internet predominantly to satisfy their social or escape needs are at greater risk for developing Internet addiction than those who rely on the Internet predominantly for personal communication and information-gathering purposes.

Depression:

 The rates of depression are substantially higher in university students than in the general population. This may be related to boredom with large blocks of unstructured time, low self-esteem with competition from peers, and feelings of being isolated and intimidated in the campus community. According to the mood management theory, individuals arrange their environment in a way that best enables them to terminate or diminish bad moods while facilitating or enhancing good moods. Students who knowledge depressed mood may turn to Internet use for mood modification. They may have arousal-oriented motivations for Internet use such as entertainment, information seeking, diversion, and relaxation. Online chatting, online gaming, and other Internet activities can also serve as distractions from rumination. Thus, Internet use can provide opportunities for depressed students to receive immediate reassurance and mood alternation. However, excessive time spending on the Internet will also reduce the time for normal social interactions and leisure activities, resulting in further reliance on the Internet for mood enhancement. present literature has shown a vigorous association between depression and Internet addiction in university students. Furthermore, researchers have proposed the “problematic Internet behavior syndrome” to refer to the increased propensity toward Internet addiction among socially anxious students who also experience depressed mood . It is argued that social anxiety is often associated with anxiety and depression, which in turn may negatively influence the ability to cope in social interactions. Socially anxious students who are also depressed may use the Internet as a medium to regulate their social fears and related distress, particularly loneliness.

Discussions :

According to the recent Internet World Stat, Asia has the highest number of Internet users in the world, approximately 922.3 million, representing 44% of the world’s Internet user population. University students in Asia have also shown higher rates of Internet addiction as compared to university students in other countries . For the present study, about 9.4% of the surveyed university students in Singapore met the criteria for Internet addiction. This prevalence rate is comparable to rates reported by studies conducted in the United States and European countries, but lower than other Asian countries such as China and South Korea . However, it should be noted that the considerable variance of prevalence rates for Internet addiction among countries may be attributable to differences in diagnostic criteria and assessment tools, study methodologies, and cultural factors. In line with the present literature, the present study showed that Internet addiction was associated with psychological variables of social anxiety, depression, and impulsivity .

Este trabajo se presenta parcialmente en el 2º Congreso Internacional sobre Ciencias Forenses y Psicología del 12 al 14 de octubre de 2017, Londres, Reino Unido, y en la 24ª Conferencia Internacional sobre Psiquiatría y Medicina Psicosomática.