INTERNET DEPENDENCE AND SELF-ESTEEM: INFLUENCES AND IMPLICATIONS ON THE MENTAL HEALTH OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

The university environment brings several challenges to young students and directly influences the vulnerabilities that affect their mental health. During this period, students also access the internet a lot for studies and work, as well as for leisure, increasing the risk of internet addiction. Under a theoretical framework, it is possible to identify self-esteem as a factor linked to abusive internet use. This research aimed to analyze the relationship between self-esteem and internet addiction among university students. This is a cross-sectional, quantitative study on a sample of 378 higher education university students in the University Center of Sao Paulo. The instruments used: socio-demographic questionnaire, IATT - Internet Addiction Test and Rosemberg Self-Esteem Scale. The analyses were carried out using the IBM SPSS Statistics Version 21 statistical program. The results indicated a relationship between self-esteem and internet addiction, indicating a higher prevalence of internet addiction in students who have unsatisfactory self-esteem.