PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to examine internet addiction, self-esteem and loneliness in adolescents. METHOD Subjects were middle and high school students in Daegu (N=486). Self-rating questionnaire included demographic data, the Korean version of Young internet addiction scale, self-rating self-esteem and loneliness scale. We have received the consent from teachers and students. RESULTS Among the subjects, 34% was addicted and internet addiction was significantly different according to gender, record at school, economic status, attitude of mother, father, teacher and friend about internet. There were significant differences in self-esteem and loneliness according to internet addiction. Internet addiction, self-esteem and loneliness were related to each other. CONCLUSION These results indicate that internet addiction would be changed according to gender, record at school, economic status, attitude of mother, father, teacher and friend about internet. Therefore, further studies are needed to generalize these results and examine widely the related variables of internet addiction.
The purpose of this study was to test the reliability and validity of a self efficacy scale which was revised for Korean adolescents. The self efficacy scale was based on 48 smoking situations, developed by Best and Hakstian (1978), and was revised according to situations which tempt Korean adolescents to smoke. The 18 situations which were believed to have true characteristics of a temptation to smoke for Korean adolescents. The psychometric evaluation was done on 281 high school adolescents. The result revealed a high internal consistency Alpha coefficient of .97, Principal Component Factor Analysis with a varimax rotation which resulted in 3 factors with more than 1.0 of eigen value. The three factors were 'negative feelings, interpersonal relationship', 'dependence ', and 'self image'. There was a significant positive correlation of r=.290 between this self efficacy scale and the scale of intention for smoking cessation, and a significant negative correlation of r=-.330 between number of cigarettes they smoked. The result indicated that the self efficacy scale measuring adolescents' degree of efficacy in a smoking tempted situation was reliable and valid. Further application of research in the various age and sex groups was recommended for a generalization of the scale.