Problematic internet use and academic achievement: a focus on interpersonal behaviours and academic engagement

In accordance with the Self-Determination Theory, the interpersonal behaviorof others can support or thwart the basic psychological needs and influencethe well-being of students. Furthermore, several studies have shown thatproblematic internet use has a negative influence on the academic field.However, no studies have investigated the impact of need-supportive andneed-thwarting interpersonal behaviors (using the SDT theoretical framework)on internet addiction, academic engagement, and academic achievement. Forthis reason, the main purpose of this study is to investigate the relationshipbetween students’ perceptions of others’ behaviors that supported or thwartedtheir basic psychological needs, internet addiction, and academic engagementand the impact on academic achievement through two studies. In the firststudy, 889 students (age: M = 20.26, SD = 3.16), were used to investigate thedimensionality of the Italian version of the Interpersonal BehaviourQuestionnaire (IBQ) and the reliability, convergent and concurrent validity. Inthe second study, 515 students (age: M = 20.26, SD = 3.16) were tested toinvestigate the mediating role of problematic internet use on the relationshipbetween students’ perceptions of others’ behaviors that supported or thwartedtheir basic psychological needs and academic engagement and the impact onacademic achievement. The results of the first study suggested that the Italianversion of the IBQ shows good psychometric characteristics in the Italiancontext. The results of the second study confirmed the mediating role ofproblematic internet use and academic engagement as mediators betweenstudents’ perceptions of need-thwarting interpersonal behaviors and academicachievement.