This research examined factors associated with Internet addiction in adolescence using a population-based cross-sectional survey with self-reported questionnaires. Participants were recruited from high school students, ages 13 to 18 years, registered on the secondary school registry in Guangzhou city using a stratified random sampling technique. Internet addiction was assessed using the Internet Addiction Test (IAT). Information was also collected on demographics, health behaviors, and perception of personal condition. Depression was assessed by the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale. The majority of respondents were classified as normal users of the Internet (n = 1,392, 89.2%), with 158 (10.2%) moderately and 10 (0.6%) severely addicted to the Internet. Results from the multivariate logistic regression analyses suggested a 50% increased odds for males to be addicted to the Internet (OR = 1.5, 95% CI = 1.1-2.2) when compared to females. Other potential risk factors included drinking behavior (OR = 1.7, 95% CI = 1.1-2.8), family dissatisfaction (OR = 2.4, 95% CI = 1.3-4.3), and experience of recent stressful events (OR = 10.0, 95% CI = 6.5-12.2). Stress-related variables were associated with Internet addiction among adolescents as they are also related to other addictions. Clinicians need to be aware of potential comorbidities of other problems such as stress and family dissatisfaction among adolescent Internet addiction patients.
To examine the effect of pathological use of the Internet on the mental health, including anxiety and depression, of adolescents in China. It is hypothesized that pathological use of the Internet is detrimental to adolescents' mental health. Design: A prospective study with a randomly generated cohort from the population.
SIB is common in adolescence in the study population in China. Addiction to the internet is detrimental to mental health and increases the risk of self-injury among adolescents. Clinicians need to be aware of potential co-morbidities of other addictions among adolescent self-injured patients.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.