The Role of Dysfunctional Attitudes and Emotion Dysregulation in Predicting the Addictive Use of the Internet in Adolescents by Presenting an Approach Based on Artificial Neural Network: A Descriptive Study

Internet addiction is common among teenagers and is associated with various negative consequences. The present study aimed to determine the role of dysfunctional attitudes and emotion dysregulation in predicting the addictive use of the internet in adolescents by presenting an approach based on artificial neural network.

In this descriptive study, the statistical population included all male students of the second year of high school studying in public schools in Ardabil City in the academic year of 2023. From this population, a sample of 264 people was selected using the multistage cluster random sampling method and answered the questionnaires of Internet Addiction, Emotion Dysregulation, and Dysfunctional Attitudes. Data were analyzed using artificial neural network with multilayer perceptron method (MPL).

The results of the analysis showed that dysfunctional attitudes and emotion dysregulation play a role in predicting the addictive use of the internet in adolescents, and the artificial neural network model is able to predict well the jumps and trends of internet addiction from the variables of dysfunctional attitudes and emotion dysregulation.

In general, the results of this research suggested that dysfunctional attitudes and emotion dysregulation have a significant relationship with internet addiction. From the practical point of view, professional psychological training and interventions can improve dysfunctional attitudes, irrational cognition of self and others, and emotion dysregulation.