Loneliness as a predictor of Internet addiction among adolescents from Arab society in Israel

The Internet affects almost every part of our lives. It may be accompanied by excessive and problematic use and even addiction. Which will cause the boundaries between the inner world and the digital world to blur. Adolescents who are still in the developmental period are the most vulnerable. Thus, the aim of the current study is to examine loneliness as a predictor of Internet addiction among Arab adolescents in Israel. The research sample consisted of adolescent middle and high school students from the Arab society in the north of Israel (n=382) aged 12-17 (M = 15.42, SD = 1.27). About 65% of them were girls and about 35% were boys. The sample included Muslim, Christian and Druze adolescents. The research findings indicated that there is a positive correlation between loneliness and Internet addiction. In addition, it was found that the average level of Internet addiction among boys (M=2.60, SD=1.03) is higher than among girls (M=2.60, SD=1.03), meaning that boys are more addicted to the Internet than girls. The findings also indicate a significant difference between boys and girls in the degree of loneliness (t=2.653, p<0.01), it was found that the average level of loneliness among boys (M=2.56, SD=0.92) is higher than among girls (M=2.31, SD=0.81), boys report a higher level of loneliness than girls.