The Role of Psychosocial Factors affecting Internet Addiction among Indonesian University Students

Smartphones addiction has become a new form of addiction among university students. This study aimed to examine how perceived social support, emotional intelligence, and fear of missing out (FOMO) predicts to smartphone addiction. A total of 403 Indonesian university students aged 17-41 years (M = 20, SD = 2.3) from various universities were involved in this study. Participants were recruited using snowball sampling technique to complete online self-reporting questionnaires. Path analysis results indicated that perceived social support has a positive effect on FOMO (beta=.15, p =.02) and emotional intelligence (beta =.60, p <.001); FOMO has a significant positive effect on smartphone addiction (beta=.38, p <.001); and emotional intelligence has a significant negative effect on smartphone addiction (beta = -.26, p <.001). An unexpected result showed that FOMO positively predicted perceived social support. The relationship between perceived social support and smartphone addiction was fully mediated by FOMO and emotional intelligence (a*b =.02, Bootstrap CI95 = -.89 and -.05). The findings contribute to the behavioral sciences by providing evidence that adequate social support could promote the establishment of healthier coping mechanisms, relieve perceived pressure, and reduce behavioral addictions among students.