Spiritual well-being and problematic internet use in a group of Romanian adolescents

Abstract

The significant increase in the use of new technologies by the younger generation has prompted many research studies that have related the problematic use of new technologies to various aspects of adolescent life. This article attempted to determine if there was a significant negative correlation between the level of spiritual well-being and problematic Internet use in a group of gymnasium participants, aged 10 to 14 years, attending two educational institutions in Romania. Two questionnaires were used: the Spiritual Well-being Scale and the Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were obtained for the two main study constructs and the correlation was calculated using Spearman’s rho coefficient. Adolescents maintain a relatively strong belief in the existence of God, but they have a low level of interest in reading spiritual books and they are concerned about spending too much time online. The results reveal the need to improve the spiritual well-being of adolescents and make them responsible users of new technologies.