The Investigation of Predictive Relationships between Loneliness, Internet Addiction, and Mindfulness through the Structural Equation Model

English (OpenAlex)

Objective: The aim of this study is to examine the predictive relationships between loneliness, Internet addiction, and mindfulness. Method: The study group consisted of 507 university students studying at Gaziantep University. Of the participants, 352 (69.4%) were female and 155 (30.6%) were male. UCLA Loneliness Scale, Internet Addiction Scale, and Mindfulness Scale were used for data collection. Firstly, the normal distribution of data is examined. Then correlation analysis on loneliness was conducted in order to determine the relationship between Internet addiction and mindfulness. The structural equation was used to measure loneliness in order to determine the predictive relationship between Internet addiction and mindfulness. Results: The results of the study showed that loneliness was negatively correlated with mindfulness, and there was a positive correlation that Internet addiction and mindfulness have a negative relationship with Internet addiction. According to the structural equation model, it was observed that loneliness predicted Internet addiction in a positive way and mindfulness in a negative way. Mindfulness predicts Internet addiction in a negative way. The loneliness has also been found to have an indirect effect on Internet addiction via the mindfulness variable.