Aspects of individuation in relation to parents, dark triad and problematic internet use in emerging adults

Glavač, Timotej (avtor), Puklek Levpušček, Melita (avtor), Lep, Žan (avtor)

The prevalence of the internet in modern society poses challenges, such as addiction and problematic internet use. Several authors suggest that the internet contributes to rising mental health issues among youth. Despite family dysfunction being a well-documented risk factor for problematic internet use, there is limited research on individuation—an intrapsychic process focused on attaining autonomy while maintaining connectedness with parents. An additional noteworthy risk factor is dark personality traits. Based on the importance of these variables in the occurrence of problematic internet use, we examined two path models (separately for mothers and fathers) in which two aspects of individuation (connectedness and parental intrusiveness) along with the three dark triad traits were proposed to predict the deficient self-regulatory aspects of problematic internet use (compulsive use and withdrawal). Furthermore, we hypothesized that the relationship between the aspects of individuation and deficient self-regulation would be moderated by the dark triad traits. Our sample comprised 392 emerging adults, aged 19 to 30 years (M = 22.67, SD = 2.88), with 74.5% being female. The models demonstrated satisfactory fit to the data concerning both mothers and fathers, and psychopathy emerged as a significant moderator in the relationship between paternal intrusiveness and withdrawal. The models elucidated moderate proportions of the variance in outcome variables (R$^2$s ranging between 0.10 and 0.18) and substantiated the expectations derived from theory regarding the contribution of personality and relational factors in predicting deficient self-regulation in internet use.

• Jezik: Angleški jezik
• Ključne besede: individuation, internet usage, dark triad, emerging adulthood, path analysis, problematic internet use, emerging adults
• Vrsta gradiva: Članek v reviji
• Tipologija: 1.01 - Izvirni znanstveni članek
• Organizacija: FF - Filozofska fakulteta
• Status publikacije: Objavljeno
• Različica publikacije: Objavljena publikacija
• Leto izida: 2026
• Št. strani: 14 str.
• Številčenje: Vol. 45, iss. 2, art. 133
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-179006
• UDK: 159.922.8-053.81
• ISSN pri članku: 1936-4733
• DOI: 10.1007/s12144-025-08859-9
• COBISS.SI-ID: 263909635
• Datum objave v RUL: 03.02.2026

Gradivo je del revije

• Naslov: Current psychology
• Založnik: Springer Nature
• ISSN: 1936-4733
• COBISS.SI-ID: 515407129

Licence

• Licenca: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Priznanje avtorstva 4.0 Mednarodna
• Povezava: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.sl
• Opis: To je standardna licenca Creative Commons, ki daje uporabnikom največ možnosti za nadaljnjo uporabo dela, pri čemer morajo navesti avtorja.

Sekundarni jezik

• Jezik: Slovenski jezik
• Ključne besede: osamosvajanje, uporaba interneta, temna triada, prehod v odraslost, analiza poti

Projekti

• Financer: ARIS - Javna agencija za znanstvenoraziskovalno in inovacijsko dejavnost Republike Slovenije
• Številka projekta: P5-0062
• Naslov: Uporabna razvojna psihologija