Abstract

The study explored the relationship between neuroticism and affective reactivity in compulsive internet usage among undergraduates. This was tested with three hypotheses. The study was a cross-sectional survey. Correlational research design was employed for the first and second hypotheses, Pearson correlation was used to analyse gathered data; and an in-between test design for the third hypothesis and independent t-test was employed for statistical data analysis. Simple random sampling technique was employed to identify 192 undergraduates from the Rivers State University, Port-Harcourt, who were used for the study (84 were males (43.8%) and 108 were females (56.3%). The ages of the participants ranged from 17 to 30 years, with a mean age of 21.91, and a standard deviation of 3.56. Participants were assessed with three instruments: The Compulsive Internet Use Scale, the Neuroticism sub-scale of the Big-Five Personality Inventory, and the Affective reactivity Scale. The results showed that no significant positive relationship was found between neuroticism and compulsive internet use among undergraduates [r =.076, p>0.05]. However, a positive relationship was found between affective reactivity and compulsive internet use among undergraduate [r =.18, p<0.05]. The result also found that female undergraduates do not significantly manifest higher level of compulsive internet usage than male undergraduate [t (190) = 1.60, p=.113]. Suggestions for further areas of research were made.