1Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Chandigarh University, Mohali, Punjab, India
2Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Chandigarh University, Mohali, Punjab, India
3Associate Professor & Head, Department of Psychology, Chandigarh University, Mohali, Punjab, India
Background: The high rate at which online technologies are becoming part of normal operations has heightened the anxieties over Problematic Internet Use (PIU), especially in young adults. PIU has been attributed to impaired self-regulatory ability, distorted reward sensitivity, and adverse psychological consequences. According to neurobehavioral perspective, the differences in sensation seeking and self-efficacy could impact the susceptibility to PIU by the mechanisms of reward sensitivity, impulse modulation, and executive control. Although these constructs are increasingly gaining interest, their combined relationship with PIU is not well studied, particularly in Indian socio-cultural setting.
Purpose: The current research aimed to investigate the interrelations between problematic internet use, sensation seeking and self efficacy among young adults with the intention of establishing psychologically based correlates applicable to neuro behavioral explanations of PIU.
Methods: It took the form of a correlational research design that entailed a sample of 60 undergraduate and postgraduate students aged 18-25 years. The participants were provided with self-report measures, such as the General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE), Zuckerman Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS), and Problematic and Risky Internet Use Screening Scale (PRIUSS-18) that are standardized and self-report. The product-moment correlation test conducted by Pearson was used to evaluate relations between the variables of the study.
Results: The results of the analysis showed that there was a large negative correlation between sensation seeking and problematic internet use (r = -.344, p < .01), which means that the higher the sensation-seeking behavior, the lower the PIU. Problematic internet use had a negative relationship with self-efficacy (r = -.092) and sensation seeking (r = -.273, p <.05) developed a significant negative relationship with self-efficacy. These results are in contrast to what has been widely reported about sensation seeking as a direct risk factor to PIU.
Conclusion: The findings indicate that sensation seeking and self-efficacy play different roles in problematic internet use among the young adults. A neurobehavioral viewpoint indicates that self-efficacy can manifest executive regulation mechanisms that counter maladaptive digital usage and sensation-seeking requirements can be more favourably achieved when offline. The paper has provided initial psychological indicators that can also inform potential neurocognitive and translational studies of problematic internet use.
Keywords: Problematic internet use; neurobehavioral correlates; sensation seeking; self-efficacy; self-regulation; Young adults.
How to cite this article: Jaiswal P, Luqman N, Srivastva K. Neurobehavioral Correlates of Problematic Internet Use: Associations with Sensation Seeking and Self-Efficacy in Young Adults. Int J Drug Deliv Technol. 2026;16(7s): 724-733; DOI: 10.25258/ijddt.16.7s.77
Source of support: None
Conflict of interest: None