The Factor Structure of Family Communication Issues and Limits of Using Cyberspace

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 PhD in psychology, researcher at Al-Mustafa International Research Institute

2 Faculty member, Al-Mustafa International University

Abstract

The ever-expanding cyberspace has led to individuals spending long hours online each day. From a scientific standpoint, questions arise regarding what constitutes normal daily cyberspace usage and what amount can be considered harmful. Another crucial inquiry pertains to the impact of cyberspace usage on family dynamics. To address these questions, the present study employs an experimental survey method. Specifically, a "Questionnaire of Family Communication Issues" developed by the researcher and the "Cyberspace Checklist" were administered to 240 seminary students and students from Qom University. The collected data were subjected to analysis using descriptive statistics, the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of sampling (KMO), Bartlett's test, exploratory factor analysis, Pearson correlation, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The findings reveal that family communication issues can be categorized into five fundamental factors: intra-family relationships, extra-family relationships, family violence, psychological disturbances within the family, and family identity crisis. Furthermore, cyberspace users in the study were grouped based on their usage patterns: half an hour, one hour, two hours, three hours, and more than three hours of daily cyberspace use. The results indicate a significant difference between the fifth group (more than three hours) and the first four groups, with the last group exhibiting all forms of family communication disorders. Finally, the findings are discussed and compared with the outcomes of other relevant studies

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