The Mediating Role of Loneliness in the Relationship Between Insecurity Feelings and Internet Addiction

Biplob Kumar Dey and Kishor Roy

International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 2026, vol. 72, issue 4, 851-863

Abstract: Background: Loneliness acts as a mediator role in the relationship between insecurity feelings and internet addiction, to understand this phenomenon, the present study has been conducted to know the mediation effect of loneliness in the relationship between insecurity feelings and internet addiction in adult people. Aims: The aims of the present study were to know the mediation effect of loneliness in the relationship between insecurity feelings and internet addiction in adult people in Bangladesh. Methods: A total of 364 adults’ people between the ages of 20 to 70 years were selected from the Khulna and Chittagong districts in Bangladesh utilizing purposive sampling. The adapted Bangla version of the Insecurity Questionnaire, the Loneliness Scale, and the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) were employed to assess insecurity feelings, loneliness, and internet addiction of the participants. Results: The findings of the current study demonstrated that smokers showed more insecure feelings, loneliness, and internet addiction than non-smokers. Early adult people showed more internet addiction than middle and late-adult people. The correlation coefficient suggested that insecure feeling is positively related to loneliness and internet addiction. Results of multiple regression analysis indicated that insecurity and loneliness were the predictors of internet addiction, which combinedly explained a 9% variance in internet addiction. Finally, the results also revealed that loneliness mediated the association between insecurity feelings and internet addiction in adult people. Conclusion: People with smoking behavior are linked to feelings of insecurity, loneliness, and internet addiction. Early adult people have more internet addiction. The results of this study will add to our knowledge concerning internet addiction and help practitioners and scholars develop effective intervention techniques.

Keywords: adult people; loneliness; feeling of insecurity; internet addiction; smoking habit (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00207640251383188 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:72:y:2026:i:4:p:851-863

DOI: 10.1177/00207640251383188

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in International Journal of Social Psychiatry
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().