CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 868Impact of Technology on AdolescentsSexuality, Behavior, and TechnologyMedia Influence and Health

Unregulated internet usage: addiction, habit, or deficient self-regulation?

LaRose, Robert, Lin, Carolyn A., Eastin, Matthew S.·2003·Media Psychology
DOI 10.1207/s1532785xmep0503_01
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Recent reports of problematic forms of Internet usage bring new currency to the problem of "media addictions" that have long been the subject of both popular and scholarly writings. The research in this article reconsidered such behavior as deficient self-regulation within the framework of A. Bandura's (1991) theory of self-regulation. In this framework, behavior patterns that have been called media addictions lie at one extreme of a continuum of unregulated media behavior that extends from normally impulsive media consumption patterns to extremely problematic behavior that might properly be termed pathological. These unregulated media behaviors are the product of deficient self-regulatory processes through which media consumers monitor, judge, and adjust their own behavior, processes that may be found in all media consumers. The impact of deficient self-regulation on media behavior was examined in a sample of 465 college students. A measure of deficient self-regulation drawn from the diagnostic criteria used in past studies of pathological Internet usage was significantly and positively correlated to Internet use across the entire range of consumption, including among normal users who showed relatively few of the "symptoms." A path analysis demonstrated that depression and media habits formed to alleviate depressed moods undermined self-regulation and led to increased Internet usage.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1207/s1532785xmep0503_01

Cites

66 of 66 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • This model has been widely used in addiction research related to pathological Internet overuse.

    “This model has been widely used in addiction research related to pathological Internet overuse (Larose, Lin, & Eastin, 2003; Liu & Peng, 2009; Turel, Serenko, & Giles, 2011).”

    From Social media addiction: Its impact, mediation, and intervention (2019) · cites this paper as Larose, Lin, & Eastin, 2003

  • The sociocognitive model of internet addiction proposes that because online and social media stimuli can be psychologically rewarding, people are incentivized to stay engaged, but those with poorer self-regulation are especially susceptible to developing harmful social media habits.

    “The sociocognitive model of internet addiction (24) similarly proposes that because online and social media stimuli can be psychologically rewarding, people are incentivized to stay engaged, but those with poorer self-regulation (e.g., individuals with psychological disorders) are especially susceptible to developing harmful social media habits.”

    From Does Social Media Use Increase Depressive Symptoms? A Reverse Causation Perspective (2021) · cites this paper as [24]

  • Past research has shown that efficacy in navigating the Internet is associated with higher time spent on it.

    “However, users who are adept at navigating SNSs may tend to spend more time on it as they discover new functions and keep themselves updated on new extensions to SNSs past research has shown that efficacy in navigating the Internet is associated with higher time spent on it (LaRose et al., 2003).”

    From Till logout do us part? Comparison of factors predicting excessive social network sites use and addiction between Singaporean adolescents and adults (2017) · cites this paper as LaRose et al., 2003

  • The social cognitive model postulates that addiction is a function of deficiency in self-regulatory functions and the degree of automaticity in media use.

    “The third theoretical paradigm is known as the social cognitive model, which postulates that addiction is a function of deficiency in one's self-regulatory functions and the degree of automaticity in individuals' media use (LaRose, Lin, & Eastin, 2003;Lee, Ho, & Lwin, 2017b).”

    From Till logout do us part? Comparison of factors predicting excessive social network sites use and addiction between Singaporean adolescents and adults (2017) · cites this paper as LaRose et al., 2003

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

4 of the 70 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
LaRose, R., Lin, C. A., & Eastin, M. S.
Affiliations
  • Michigan State University (US)
  • Cleveland State University (US)
  • The Ohio State University (US)
ORCID
Venue
Media Psychology
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Published
2003-08
Volume
5
Issue
3
Pages
225-253
ISSN
  • 1521-3269 (ISSN-L)
  • 1532-785X
DOI
10.1207/s1532785xmep0503_01
OpenAlex
W1988710891
Cited by
868
References
70
Citations by year
2026: 44 · 2025: 50 · 2024: 46 · 2023: 53 · 2022: 63 · 2021: 53 · 2020: 53 · 2019: 59 · 2018: 52 · 2017: 55 · 2016: 49 · 2015: 44 · 2014: 58 · 2013: 40 · 2012: 35
FWCI
27.25
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Media Psychology (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Literature and Literary Theory › Media Influence and Health
Keywords
problematic internet use, media addiction, self-regulation theory, Bandura, internet addiction, media habits, depression, university students

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review