فهرست نشریات علمی دسترسی آزاد ایران

Introduction: Problematic internet use (PIU) is a complex and increasingly prevalentphenomenon in contemporary societies, posing a significant challenge, particularly foradolescents and young adults, and predominantly female upper secondary school studentsin Shiraz, Iran. Consequently, the primary objective of the present study was to predict PIUbased on loneliness and alexithymia in female high school students.Methods: In this descriptive-correlational study, the target population consisted of allfemale high school students in Shiraz during the 2023–2024 academic year. For this study, asample of 259 students was recruited using convenience sampling. Data were collected usingthe Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire, the UCLA Loneliness Scale, and the TorontoAlexithymia Scale-20. Statistical analysis was performed using the Pearson correlationcoefficient and simultaneous multiple regression.Results: The results indicated significant positive relationships between loneliness andPIU (r=0.47, P<0.001) and between alexithymia and PIU (r=0.58, P<0.001). Simultaneousmultiple regression showed that loneliness and alexithymia together explained 39.8% of thevariance in PIU (R²=0.398, adjusted R²=0.394, F=84.83, P<0.001), with alexithymia (β=0.48,P<0.001) as the stronger predictor than loneliness (β=0.28, P<0.001).Conclusion: The findings demonstrate that both loneliness and alexithymia are significantpositive predictors of problematic internet use in female upper secondary students in Shiraz,Iran. Consequently, these results strongly suggest that interventions targeting the reduction ofloneliness and the enhancement of emotional identification and expression skills are crucialfor effectively addressing PIU within this population.