The relationship between alexithymia, anxiety, depression, and internet addiction severity in a sample of Italian high school students.
We aimed to assess whether Internet addiction (IA) severity was related to alexithymia scores among high school students, taking into account the role of gender differences and the possible effect of anxiety, depression, and age. Participants in the study were 600 students (ages ranging from 13 to 22; 48.16% girls) recruited from three high schools in two cities from Southern Italy. Participants completed a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Toronto Alexithymia Scale, the Internet Addiction Test, the Hamilton Anxiety Scale, and the Hamilton Depression Scale. The findings of the study showed that IA scores were associated with alexithymia scores, over and above the effect of negative emotions and age. Students with pathological levels of alexithymia reported higher scores on IA severity. In particular, results showed that difficulty in identifying feelings was significantly associated with higher scores on IA severity. No effect of gender was found. Implications for clinicians were discussed.
Department of Neurosciences, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria 1, 98125 Messina, Italy.
Giuseppe
G
Scimeca
Department of Neurosciences, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria 1, 98125 Messina, Italy.
Antonio
A
Bruno
Department of Neurosciences, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria 1, 98125 Messina, Italy.
Lucia
L
Cava
Department of Neurosciences, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria 1, 98125 Messina, Italy.
Gianluca
G
Pandolfo
Department of Neurosciences, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria 1, 98125 Messina, Italy.
Maria Rosaria Anna
MR
Muscatello
Department of Neurosciences, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria 1, 98125 Messina, Italy.
Rocco
R
Zoccali
D000293:Adolescent; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D016739:Behavior, Addictive / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult