Abstract
This study determined the effectiveness of cognitive restructuring therapy (CRT) and motivational enhancement therapy (MET) on internet addiction of University undergraduates in Oyo State, Nigeria. The study adopted a pretest-posttest, control group, quasi-experimental design. The multi-stage sampling technique was used. Three universities were randomly selected: the University of Ibadan, Ibadan; Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomoso; and the National Open University, Ibadan Centre, located in Oyo State. They were assigned to the CRT, MET, and control conditions, respectively. Forty undergraduates with high internet addiction in the screening instrument were purposively selected from each university. Participants were randomly assigned to the CRT (37), MET (38), and control (40) groups, resulting in a total of 115 participants completing the study (attrition rate: 4.2%). The treatments lasted for eight weeks. The Internet addiction scale (r=.86) and Internet addiction screening scale (r=.81) were used for pre- and post-test, respectively. Data were subjected to analysis of covariance and estimated marginal means post-hoc test at a 0.05 significance level. There was a significant main effect of the treatments on internet addiction among university undergraduates (F(2, 111)=25.605, p<.05, η2=.316), with participants in the CRT (M=31.515) having the lowest mean compared to those in the MET (M=41.554) and control groups (M=50.098). The observed effectiveness of CRT compared to MET may be explained by CRT's targeted focus on identifying and modifying maladaptive cognitive patterns. This study recommends that educational/counselling psychologists adopt both interventions to reduce internet addiction among university undergraduates.