CYBERPSYCHOLOGY & BEHAVIOR Volume 9, Number 5, 2006 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

Identity and Intimacy Crises and Their Relationship to Internet Dependence among College Students
YA-RONG HUANG, Ph.D.

ABSTRACT In an attempt to test Kandells proposition that internet dependents used the internet as a coping mechanism against underlying psychological issues, this study investigated the extent to which the fifth and sixth Eriksonian crises (identity, intimacy), were related to internet dependence (online chatting, gaming) among college students. Students spending more than 10 hours per week on chatting/gaming were classified as dependents. On the basis of a national sample of freshmen in Taiwan, this study found that the dependents scored significantly lower on most of the measures that reflected the successful resolution of the crises, and higher on the measures that reflected unsuccessful resolution of the crises. Kandells proposition was supported.

INTRODUCTION

TUDIES from different countries reported that internet addiction is a real thing, and has created negative impacts on the academic, relationship, financial, occupational, and physical aspects of many lives.13 A variety of explanations have been proposed to solve the mystery of what causes internet addiction, including personality, sociocultural, and biomedical explanations. Of particular interest in this study is Kandells explanation.4 He proposed that an individual who exhibit internet addiction is often dealing with underlying psychological issues, such as problematic relationships, academic or work difficulties, and that the internet, like drug or alcohol, is used as a means of procrastination and escape. He suggested that it is the underlying psychological issues, rather than the internet use, that need to be dealt with. Once a person can reestablish a balance in his/her life, internet addiction is bound to disappear by itself. In college students, Kandell noted that the development of a firm sense of identity, and of meaningful, intimate relationships with romantic partners

are the two major psychological issues that all college students have to resolve. Students who have troubles developing identity and intimacy are more likely to indulge themselves in the virtual world than their counterparts who have resolved these two psychological issues in the real world. Internet addiction of college students is an increasingly important issue that needs to be dealt with. College students are particularly vulnerable to internet addiction due to easy access to the internet and flexible schedules.4,5 Kandells proposition, if true, provide directions for effective treatment to this disorder. Yet, his observation has never been empirically confirmed. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to put his observation to test by investigating empirically the degree to which internet dependence is related to the Eriksons identity and intimacy crises among college students.

METHODS
The participants were drawn from a national freshmen survey conducted by the Center for

Center for Teacher Education, Tainan National University of the Arts, 66 Da-Chi Village, Tainan County, Taiwan.

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Higher Education Research at National Tsing Hua University at Taiwan in November 2003. The Freshmen Survey consisted of a wide array of questions, including demographic data, college experiences, measures of personality and interest, goals in life and so on. Most of the questions were reliable (Cronbach of 0.620.92). Using a proportional stratified sampling technique, the Center for Higher Education Research distributed the survey to 49,611 freshmen, and a total of 33,959 students returned the survey in the end (return rate = 68.5%). In this study, a final weight that adjusted for non-respondents was used, producing a total of 174,965 cases for analyses.

Internet dependence Among different kinds of internet dependence, chatting and gaming were chosen for observation, because previous findings3,6 suggested that non-dependents predominantly used those aspects of the internet which allowed them to gather information whereas internet dependents predominantly used the two-way communication functions available on the internet. Due to lack of established diagnostic criteria of internet dependence in the freshmen survey, this study used hours per week students spend on the internet as the measure of internet dependence. In addition, as studies of college students consistently showed that non-dependents did not spend more than 9 h/weeks,7,8 students who spent more than 10 h on chatting or gaming were classified as internet dependents in this study. As a result, 7.2% of the participants were chatting dependents (n = 12,247) and 5.1% were gaming dependents (n = 8,635). Identity and intimacy crises Erik Erikson9 views the process of personality development as extending through the whole life span that he divides into eight stages. Each stage represents an encounter between the individual and the environment which must be resolved in order for the individual to achieve continued growth. Each of the eight stages is marked by a specific conflict, with the resolution to encounter in one of two directions, one being adaptive (successful) and the other maladaptive (unsuccessful). Achieving identity is the fifth crisis, and is presumed to occur during adolescence and may continue through early adulthood.10 Successful resolution of the identity crisis implies an acceptance

of and being comfortable with ones physical self, a sense of direction, and consequently an ability to make decisions. Questions about future plans and self-assessed decision-making ability were used to measure successful resolution of identity crisis. Identity diffusion is the maladaptive outcome of the encounter, and implies uncertainty about who one is and what one is to become. One factor variable representing career uncertainty factor was generated to measure identity diffusion (Table 1). Developing intimacy is the sixth crisis, and is presumed to occur at young adulthood. Intimacy is achieved by committing oneself to concrete affiliations and partnerships, and developing ethical strength to abide by such commitments even though they may call for significant sacrifices and compromises. The opposite-sex friendship is in particular the target of intimacy. One question in the freshmen survey that reflects difficulty in making friends with the opposite sexes was used to measure in an indirect way whether students have successfully resolved the intimacy crisis, considering that lack of social skills may impede the development of intimacy. On the other hand, by developing intimate relationships with others, one runs a risk of destroying ones individuality by fusing it with anothers. If the threat of ego loss is too great, the individual will avoid intimate relationship, leading to a deep sense of isolation. Six item questions in the freshmen survey were combined into one factor variable representing isolation (see Table 1). Research hypotheses and methods Guided by Kandells work, this study hypothesized that compared to the non-dependents, the internet dependents: 1. scored significantly lower on the measures that reflected identity achievement (future plans, decision-making ability), and higher on one measure that reflected identity diffusion (career uncertainty) than the non-dependents. 2. scored significantly higher on the measures that reflected lack of social skills, and isolation. To test the hypotheses, multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) and analyses of variance (ANOVA) were performed to determine whether and how the dependents and non-dependents differed on the two vectors of identity and intimacy crises, and the individual measures. Wilks lambdas F and Cohens d were used to determine respectively the statistical and practical significance of the difference.

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TABLE 1.

MEASURES OF SUCCESSFUL/UNSUCCESSFUL RESOLUTION OF THE IDENTITY/INTIMACY CRISES Direction Successful resolution Measures 1. A sense of directiona: measured by whether they plan to do the following while in college: (1) take an independent study course (2) take the occupational certification tests, or the national tests for recruiting civil service staff (3) prepare for domestic graduate schools entrance exams (4) prepare for studying abroad after graduation 2. Decision-making abilityb: measured by the sum of the following two item questions: (1) It is easy for me to make decisions. (2) I have confidence in the decisions I made and will be responsible for the consequences entailed. Career uncertaintyc: measured by the sum of the following three item questions: (1) I am not sure about what I like or what I am good at. (2) I do not have a clear idea about what I shall do after graduation. (3) I am not certain if I have chosen the right major for me. Lack of social skillsd: measured by the following question: I do not know how to make friends with the opposite sex Isolatione: measured by the sum of the following six items that asked students how often they (1) feel lonesome (2) have nothing to say to other people (3) do not have close friends (4) feel unimportant or not needed by anyone (5) find themselves not understood by anyone (6) cannot speak their minds to anyone

Developmental crises Identity crisis

Unsuccessful resolution

Intimacy crisis

Successful resolution Unsuccessful resolution

aScales:

1 = yes, 2 = no. strongly disagree (1), disagree (2), agree (3), strongly agree (4). cScales: strongly disagree (1), disagree (2), agree (3), and strongly agree (4). dScales: strongly disagree (1), disagree (2), agree (3), and strongly agree (4). eScales: never (1), seldom (2), occasionally (3), often (4), and always (5).
bScales:

RESULTS
The differences between the dependents and non-dependents on the measures of identity and intimacy crises are reported in Tables 2 & 3 respectively. The MANOVA results indicated that the two groups differed significantly on the identity

and intimacy vectors in the cases of chatting and gaming. The ANOVA results further showed that with regard to factors that reflected successful/ unsuccessful solutions of identity and intimacy crisis, most of the differences were significant and in the expected directions. There were only three exceptions.

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The first exception is that the chatting dependents were more likely to prepare for advanced study domestically or abroad while in college, and scored higher in decision-making ability. The second exception is that the gaming dependents and non-dependents did not differ significantly on decision-making ability. The third exception is that chatting dependents did not score higher on lack of social skills. All the effects sizes were small, with those for gaming comparatively larger than those for chatting (Tables 2 and 3).

DISCUSSION
This study investigated the extent to which identity and intimacy development (the fifth and sixth Eriksonian crises) was related to online chatting and gaming dependence among college students in Taiwan. In general, students who spent more than 10 h per week on online chatting and gaming exhibited weaker signs of identity achievement and intimacy development, and stronger signs of identity diffusion and isolation. Kandells proposition that internet dependence

TABLE 2.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INTERNET DEPENDENCE AND THE IDENTITY CRISIS Mean Chatting Gaming Chatting Gaming Da NDb Dc NDd D ND D ND D ND D ND D ND D ND D ND D ND D ND D ND 0.46 0.49 0.45 0.49 0.69 0.73 0.65 0.73 0.41 0.37 0.30 0.38 0.67 0.62 0.56 0.63 5.92 5.86 5.84 5.86 7.60 7.47 7.99 7.46 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.46 0.44 0.48 0.44 0.49 0.48 0.46 0.48 0.47 0.49 0.50 0.48 1.35 1.30 1.43 1.30 2.24 2.33 2.33 2.24 SD F 82.31*** 151.26*** 57.20*** 60.54*** 97.88*** 280.24*** 79.95*** 217.37*** 142.74*** 148.89*** 23.64*** 1.75 0.06 0.08 0.09 0.17 0.08 0.17 0.10 0.14 0.04 0.01 d

Measures Vector: identity crisis Successful resolution Plan: take an independent study

Plan: take occupational/national exams

Chatting Gaming

Plan: prepare for studying abroad

Chatting Gaming

Plan: prepare for domestic graduate schools entrance exams

Chatting Gaming

Decision-making ability

Chatting Gaming

Unsuccessful resolution Career uncertainty

Chatting Gaming

34.82*** 453.64***

0.05 0.23

= 12,247. = 158,837. cn = 8,653. dn = 162,431. ***p < 0.001. D, dependents; ND, non-dependents.
bn

an

IDENTITY AND INTIMACY CRISES AND INTERNET DEPENDENCE

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TABLE 3. Measures Vector: intimacy crisis Successful resolution Lack of social skills

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INTERNET DEPENDENCE AND THE INTIMACY CRISIS Mean Chatting Gaming Chatting Gaming Da NDb Dc NDd D ND D ND 2.12 2.26 2.44 2.24 14.51 13.78 15.04 13.77 SD 347.10*** 317.13*** 0.87 0.84 0.97 0.83 6.31 5.77 6.63 5.76 310.45*** 427.37*** 0.16 0.22 F

Unsuccessful Resolution Isolation

Chatting Gaming

178.57*** 395.87***

0.12 0.21

an

= 12,247. = 158,837. cn = 8,653. dn = 162,431. ***p < 0.001. D, dependents; ND, non-dependents.
bn

was related to unresolved psychological issues was supported. The findings of this study have practical implications. As this study confirmed that internet addiction can be regarded as an old developmental problem in new disguise, colleges and universities, in their efforts to assist students who spend excessive time on the internet, need to expand their attentions over and beyond computer behaviors to the psychosocial development of their students. Internet dependence may be alleviated if the dependents understand themselves and accept who they are, find purposes and directions in their real lives, and develop intimate relationships with others. In addition, prevention is better than cure. Internet dependence can develop in a very short time.3 When freshmen enter the door of colleges and universities, it is crucial that they are encouraged or even required to get involved in meaningful and purposeful activities as early as possible. Academic and career counseling should also be provided on a continuing and frequent basis to ensure that students anchor their lives on important goals. This study ran across some unexpected results worthy of discussions. Counter to the hypothesis about identity crisis, chatting and gaming dependents did not score lower on decision-making ability than the non-dependents. Yet, the dependents were more uncertain about their career at the same time. One potential explanation for the mixed results is that the dependents were in the process of

change in their ego-identity status. They may be moving from identity achievement or identity foreclosure toward identity moratorium or identity diffusion in Marcias terms of ego-identity status.11 They are attracted to the internet because chatting and gaming offers a convenient and comfortable place to clarify what they want to be, or to put aside temporarily the painful search for identity. Another exception is that, compared to non-dependents, chatting dependents did not report greater difficulty in making friends with the opposite sex in spite of the fact that they did feel isolated more often. It is likely that if successful resolution of intimacy crisis had been measured by commitment to opposite-sex relationship rather than social skills in this study, chatting dependents would score lower on this end as expected. The unexpected result is still interesting in that it challenges the traditional stereotype about chatters socially unskilled people seeking love or a relationship. The result suggests chatting dependents may have good social skills, at least in cyberspace. Comparatively, gaming dependents need more attention because they were found to be lonelier and more socially unskilled. Given that unsuccessful resolution of the intimacy crisis played a role in inducing gaming dependence among college students, educational courses about interpersonal skills, love and marriage need to be offered in order to help students get off line and develop intimate relationship in the real world.

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Finally, to future research, this study showed that Eriksons theory of psychosocial development is a useful framework to understand internet dependence. Researchers may extend this line of research by exploring the relationships between internet dependence and other Eriksonian crises, such as the industry versus inferiority crisis among high school students, and the generativity versus stagnation crisis among the middle-age working adults.

REFERENCES
1. Chou, C., & Hsiao, M.C. (2000). Internet addiction, usage, and gratificationsthe Taiwans college students case. Computers & Education 35:6580. 2. Simkova, B., & Cincera, J. (2004). Internet addiction disorder and chatting in the Czech Republic. CyberPsychology & Behavior 7:536539. 3. Young, K.S. (1998). Internet addiction: the emergence of a new clinical disorder. CyberPsychology & Behavior 1:237244. 4. Kandell, J.J. (1998). Internet addiction on campus: the vulnerability of college students. CyberPsychology & Behavior 1:1117. 5. Young, K.S. (2006). Surfing not studying: dealing with internet addiction on campus. Available at: www.netaddiction.com/articles/surfing_notstudying.htm. Accessed July 15, 2006. 6. Potera, C. (1998). Trapped in the web. Psychology Today March/April:6671. 7. Anderson, K.J. (2006). Internet use among college students: an exploratory study. Available at: www.rpi. edu/~anderk4/research.html. Accessed July 15, 2006. 8. Chou, C., & Hsiaom, M.C. (2000). Internet addiction, usage, and gratificationsthe Taiwans college students case. Computers & Education 35:6580. 9. Erikson, E.H. (1963). Childhood and society. New York: Norton. 10. Jaurigue, R. (1991). I feel like an armadillo: a look at college seniors and recent graduates using Erik Eriksons model of identity versus role-diffusion. (ERIC ED336675) 11. Marcia, J.E. (1966). Development and validation of ego-identity data. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology 3:551558. 12. Constantinople, A. (1969). An Eriksonian measure of personality development in college students. Developmental Psychology 1:357372. 13. Orlofsky, J.L., Marcia, J.E., & Lesser, I.M. (1973). Ego identity states and the intimacy versus isolation crisis of young adulthood. Journal of Youth and Adolescence 27:211219.

Limitations This study, as a secondary analysis, is limited in its measures of the major constructs, including internet dependence, identity and intimacy crisis. With regard to internet dependence, time spent on the internet was adopted as the sole criteria to identify internet dependents. Other criteria, such as psychological attachment and the negative impacts on relationship and education, were not used. It is therefore possible that some of the internet dependents in this study will not meet the criteria for internet addict disorder. Nevertheless, this study deserves our attention because extensive use of internet, whether pathological or not, was not beneficial for college students in many ways. This study is also limited in its measures of identity and intimacy crises. It is recommended that established measures of the Eriksonian crisis, such as The Inventory of Psychosocial Development,12 Marcias11 ego identity interview, or the intimacy interviews proposed by Orlofsky et al.13 be used in future research. Once these limitations are overcome, greater effect sizes than those found in this study might be obtained.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank the Center for Higher Education Research at National Tsing Hua University for offering their national database of freshmen free of charge for this study to use.

Address reprint requests to: Dr. Ya-Rong Huang Center for Teacher Education Tainan National Univerisity of the Arts 66 Da-Chi Village, Tainan County, Taiwan E-mail: yarong@mail.tnnua.edu.tw