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Type D Personality in the Prediction of Internet Addiction in the Young Adult Population of Slovak Internet Users

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Abstract

This article presents the results of the first study on the relationship between Internet addiction (IA) and Type D personality (D is for distressed) in Slovakia and is the first attempt to examine the impact of Type D personality in the prediction of IA beyond personality dimensions. Altogether 405 adult Slovak Internet users (aged from 18 to 45 years) filled out the following questionnaires: IRPS, DS14, and NEO-FFI. The results showed that there wasn’t a significant effect of the Type D personality on levels of IRPS after controlling for the effect of Big-Five personality traits. The Big Five personality dimensions and demographics explained 21.1 % of variance in IA. According to our results the typical adult addicted to the Internet could be characterized as a young introverted unconscientious and disagreeable neurotic. Future research should concentrate more on the creation and validation of the model of IA.

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Acknowledgments

This publication results from the research work within the grant project FnPV number 12/2013 by the Faculty of Arts and Letters, Catholic University Ružomberok, Slovakia.

This publication results from the research work within the grant project Vega 1/0087/13 called “Internet addiction and Type D personality (Social inhibition and negative affectivity in the context of problematic Internet use within the population of university students)”.

We would also like to express our gratitude to our colleague for his suggestions on the earlier versions of this article.

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Correspondence to Juraj Holdoš.

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Holdoš, J. Type D Personality in the Prediction of Internet Addiction in the Young Adult Population of Slovak Internet Users. Curr Psychol 36, 861–868 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-016-9475-6

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