The association of Big Five personality traits and religiosity on Internet addiction among Israeli-Palestinian Muslim college students in Israel

ABSTRACT

Prior studies have demonstrated that personality traits and religiosity may be protective/risk factors for the development of Internet addiction; however, these associations have not been examined among the unique population of Israeli-Palestinian young adults. This study was the first to investigate the relationships between Internet addiction (Internet Addiction Test; IAT) with the Big Five personality traits (Big Five Personality Trait Short Questionnaire; BFPTSQ) and religiosity (Positions Regarding Religion Questionnaire) among a sample of Israeli-Palestinian Muslim college students (n = 350). IAT scores were positively associated with BFPTSQ openness (r = .33, p < .01), BFPTSQ extraversion (r = .30, p < .01), and BFPTSQ agreeableness (r = .36, p < .01), whereas IAT scores were negatively related to religiosity (r = −.46, p < .01), BFPTSQ conscientiousness (r = −.33, p < .01), and BFPTSQ emotional stability (r = −.36, p < .01). The present work may provide insight into risk factors for developing Internet addiction in a manner that may increase early identification and intervention efforts.

KEYWORDS:

• Big five personality traits
• religiosity
• Internet addiction
• Israeli-Palestinian Muslim college students

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Qutaiba Agbaria http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1945-5289