Relationship between Pre-Service Teachers' Levels of Self-Esteem, Emotional Intelligence and Problematic Internet Use

The purpose of this study was to discover whether there is a significant relationship between problematic Internet use and the emotional intelligence, sub-categories of emotional intelligence, and self-esteem of pre-service teachers in Turkey. The correlation research method was used, and data were collected by means of a questionnaire that included The Internet Cognitive Status Scale, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Bar-On EQ-i Emotional Intelligence Scale, and a demographic information form. The questionnaire was sent to 2200 pre-service teachers from eleven universities in Turkey. A total of 470 students were identified as students who exhibited problematic Internet use. The results revealed a weak correlation between problematic Internet use and self-esteem, and between problematic Internet use and emotional intelligence. The results indicate that self-esteem and emotional intelligence are not predictors of problematic Internet use.