Factors Predictive for Incidence and Remission of Internet Addiction in Young Adolescents: A Prospective Study

Abstract

The aim of the study is to determine the incidence and remission rates for Internet addiction and the associated predictive factors in young adolescents over a 1-year follow-up. This was a prospective, population-based investigation. Five hundred seventeen students (267 male and 250 female) were recruited from three junior high schools in southern Taiwan. The factors examined included gender, personality, mental health, self-esteem, family function, life satisfaction, and Internet activities. The result revealed that the 1-year incidence and remission rates for Internet addiction were 7.5% and 49.5% respectively. High exploratory excitability, low reward dependence, low self-esteem, low family function, and online game playing predicted the emergency of the Internet addiction. Further, low hostility and low interpersonal sensitivity predicted remission of Internet addiction. The factors predictive incidence and remission of Internet addiction identified in this study could be provided for prevention and promoting remission of Internet addiction in adolescents.

The Problematic Internet Entertainment Use Scale for Adolescents: Prevalence of Problem Internet Use in Spanish High School Students

“…31 Having established the statistically highest cut-off points for PIU prevalence, the rates of problematic Internet entertainment use and potential PIU in these Spanish adolescents were found to be 5 percent and 20.5 percent, respectively, which are within the prevalence range reported in adolescent epidemiological studies. 23,27,28,53 The prevalence of potential PIU was similar to that obtained with the CIAS, 24,35,37,41,48,59 which seems to be the best IUD scale for use with adolescents; perhaps it could be considered as a gold standard.…”

“…The first is through the score on a specific scale: for example, it is diagnosed in subjects with five of the eight diagnostic criteria on the YDQ 34,40,44,47,52,64,65 ; or on the CIAS, it is diagnosed with a minimum score of 63/64. 35,37,41,48,59 A second approach would be to extract categories using percentiles (P), such as the 75 P 24 or 95 P…”

Internet Addiction or Excessive Internet Use

“…A prospective, population-based study evaluating the incidence and remission rates for Internet addiction and the associated predictive factors in Taiwanese adolescents found that the 1-year remission rate for Internet addiction was 49.5% (57). High exploratory excitability, low reward dependence, low self-esteem, low family function, and online game playing were associated with greater severity of the Internet addiction, while low hostility and low interpersonal sensitivity were associated with remission.…”

Internet Addiction and Associated Factors among Health Sciences Students in Nepal

“…Young estimated that about 5-10% of internet users were addicted to it. According to reports by Lejoyeux and Weinstein, the prevalence rate of internet addiction in the United States and Europe ranged from 1.5 to 8.2% [17,18]. Internet addiction has been most studied in the Far East.…”