Personality Correlates of Internet Addiction among College Students

The present study assesses the relationship between the Big Five personality traits and internet addiction among college students studying in Mysuru city. Big five personality scale (John & Srivastava, 1999) and internet Addiction Scale (Young, 1998) were administered to a sample of 163 (70 male + 93 female) college students. Personality in 5 traits of students was measured by Big five personality questionnaire and Internet addiction in 6 factors. Data were subjected to product moment correlation and stepwise multiple regression to find out the relationship between personality traits and internet addiction, including the personality factors which predict internet addiction. Results revealed that four of the personality factors-Extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness were negatively and significantly related with internet addiction, whereas neuroticism factor was positively related to Internet addiction.   Further, multiple regression analysis revealed that only two personality factors- neuroticism an Conscientiousness best predicted the Internet addiction to the extent of 13.6%.