The Effects of Positive Psychotherapy on Internet Addiction and Identity Crisis in Female Senior High School Students

Introduction: The present study aimed to investigate the effect of positive psychotherapy on internet addiction and identity crisis in senior female high school students in Falavarjan City, Iran. Objectives: the use of the internet and social networks greatly influences the values of adolescents and demands; the needs previously met by the family are now met by this new medium. Materials and Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test; post-test and a control group design. The statistical population of this study included senior high school female students and their parents from Falavarjan City (Isfahan Province, Iran) during the 2018-2019 academic year. Forty female high school students were selected by a multistage cluster sampling method. Then, they and their parents were randomly assigned into the control and experimental groups. The tools used in the study included Family Communication Patterns, Generalized Pathological Internet Use Scale, and Identity Crisis Questionnaire. The intervention included 8 positive psychotherapy sessions for parents and 9 positive psychotherapy sessions for adolescents. The obtained data were analyzed by Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA). Results: The achieved results indicated that positive psychotherapy significantly reduced internet addiction (F=117.02, P<0.0005) and identity crisis (F=146.199, P<0.0005) in female adolescents (P<0.0005). Conclusion: The study findings suggested that positive psychotherapy impacted Internet addiction and identity crisis in female senior high school students.