A Preliminary Study Suggesting Similar Relationships Between Impulsivity and Severity of Problematic Internet Use in Male and Female Iranian College Students

The main purpose of the present study is to investigate the potential for gender to moderate the relationships between facets of impulsivity and severity of problematic Internet use (PIU) among male and female university students in Iran. In this study, 201 individuals (95 male, 106 female) completed the Impulsive Behavior Scale-Short Form (Lynam 2013) and the Problematic and Risky Internet Use Screening Scale (Jelenchick et al. Computers in Human Behavior, 35, 171-178, 2014) and multidimensional-structural equation modeling was used to investigate a moderating role for gender in the relationship between aspects of impulsivity and PIU severity. In a general model including both genders and in models for males and females separately, the hypothesized relationship between impulsivity and PIU severity demonstrated a good fit to the data. Analyses also suggested that structural relations were equivalent for both groups. All regression weights in the general model and for each of the two groups were statistically significant. Amongst males and females, the model predictor variable accounted for 25% and 16%, respectively, of the variance in PIU severity. These findings suggest that impulsivity may predict PIU severity similarly among Iranian university students of both genders.