Investigation of the relationship between internet addiction, communication skills and difficulties in emotion regulation in nursing students

Abstract

This study investigates the relationships between nursing students' internet addiction levels, communication skills and difficulties in emotion regulation. This cross-sectional study included 463 nursing students who completed the Internet Addiction Scale (IAS), Communication Skills Scale (CSS) and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS-16). Approximately half of the nursing students were risky internet users. A negative statistically significant was determined between from IAS and CSS; a positive statistically significant was determined between from IAS and DERS-16. It was found that internet addiction had an effect of 18.6 % (R² = 0.186) on difficulty in emotion regulation and 0.27 % on communication skills (R² = 0.027). The students who were in risky group in internet addiction had worse communication skills and higher levels of difficulties in emotion regulation.

Keywords: Communication skills; Difficulties in emotional regulation; Internet addiction; Nursing students.