The Relationship between Brain Behavioral Systems and Internet Addiction with Mediating Role of Loneliness and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Strategies

Aim: The present study was designed and conducted by the aim of investigating the relationship between brain behavioral systems and Internet addiction with mediating role of loneliness and cognitive emotion regulation strategies.
The study was of explorative type with correlational design. The population consisted of all the male and female students in second level of secondary schools in district 4 of Karaj in 2016, among them 300 students (164 girls and 136 boys) were selected by multi-stage random sampling. They completed The Internet Addiction Test of Young (1998), The Revised form of University of California at Los Angles Loneliness Scale of Russel, Peplua and Cutrona (1980), Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ-P) of Garnefski, Kraaij and Spinhoven (2001), and Behavioral Activation/Inhibition Systems Scale of Carver and White (1994). Data analysis was conducted through AMOS software and by path analysis method.
The results showed goodness of fit for the model, in which behavioral activation system had negative association with Internet addiction (- 0.566), and behavioral inhibition system had positive association with Internet addiction (0.496). Furthermore, the mechanism of the association was such that behavioral activation system decreases Internet activation through positive cognitive emotion regulation strategies, and on the other hand, behavioral inhibition system increases Internet addiction through negative cognitive emotion regulation strategies and loneliness.
The results suggested that brain behavioral systems are of particular importance in explaining Internet addiction and it can play an effective role in individuals’ tendency to Internet behaviors involvement through loneliness and cognitive emotion regulation strategies.