Preference for Online Social Interaction

The model introduced and tested in the current study suggests that lonely and depressed individuals may develop a preference for online social interaction, which, in turn, leads to negative outcomes associated with their Internet use. Participants completed measures of preference for online social interaction, depression, loneliness, problematic Internet use, and negative outcomes resulting from their Internet use.Results indicated that psychosocial health predicted levels of preference for online social interaction, which, in turn, predicted negative outcomes associated with problematic Internet use. In addition, the results indicated that the influence of psychosocial distress on negative outcomes due to…