Internet addiction detection rate among college students in the People’s Republic of China: a meta-analysis

Abstract

BackgroundWith the development of economy and technology, the Internet is becoming more and more popular. Internet addiction has gradually become a serious issue in public health worldwide. The number of Internet users in China has reached 731 million, with an estimated 24 million adolescents determined as having Internet addiction. In this meta-analysis, we attempted to estimate the prevalence of Internet addiction among College Students in the People’s Republic of China in order to improve the mental health level of college students and provide evidence for the prevention of Internet addiction.MethodsEligible articles about the prevalence of Internet addiction among college students in China published between 2006 and 2017 were retrieved from online Chinese periodicals, the full-text databases of Wan Fang, VIP, and the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, as well as PubMed. Stata 11.0 was used to perform the analyses.ResultsA total of 26 papers were included in the analyses. The overall sample size was 38,245, with 4573 diagnosed with Internet addiction. The pooled detection rate of Internet addiction was 11% (95% confidence interval [CI] 9–13%) among college students in China. The detection rate was higher in male students (16%) than female students (8%). The Internet addiction detection rate was 11% (95% CI 8–14%) in southern areas, 11% (95% CI 7–14%) in northern areas, 13% (95% CI 8–18%) in eastern areas and 9% (95% CI 8–11%) in the mid-western areas. According to different scales, the Internet addiction detection rate was 11% (95% CI 8–15%) using the Young scale and 9% (95% CI 6–11%) using the Chen scale respectively. Cumulative meta analysis showed that the detection rate had a slight upward trend and gradually stabilized in the last 3 years.ConclusionThe pooled Internet addiction detection rate of Chinese college students in out study was 11%, which is higher than in some other countries and strongly demonstrates a worrisome situation. Effective measures should be taken to prevent further Internet addiction and improve the current situation.

Untitled

“…This is further supported in other research that has suggested addictive tendencies of video game use, Internet use, and mobile phone use all significantly predict decreases in social connectedness (Savci & Aysan, 2017). Lastly, various samples in different countries have been studied and have found comparable addictive tendencies (e.g., Shao et al, 2018). However, as mentioned previously, further research must be conducted.…”

“…Addictive tendencies of Internet use have been empirically investigated in a variety of contexts. Various samples have been studied, including medical students (Zhang, Lim, Lee, & Ho, 2017), college students in China (Shao et al, 2018), and adolescents in South Korea (Choi, Chun, Lee, Han, & Park, 2018). Past research indicated that as tendencies of shyness increase, addictive tendencies of Internet use increase to reduce feelings of loneliness (Ang, Chan, & Lee, 2017).…”

Internet Addiction a Global Concern: A Cross-Sectional Appraisal amongst Imminent Medical Doctors of National Defence University of Malaysia

“…[23,[25][26][27]29,31,33] In addition, the meta-analysis of 26 studies from China further confirmed male students are more addicted to the internet than females. [35] However, the outcome is in contrast with the findings of another study. [28] Furthermore, other researchers found no difference in the mean internet addiction scores in terms of gender.…”

“…[32][33][34] These findings were further reaffirmed by a meta-analysis of 26 studies from China, which reported a low incidence. [35] It was also established that male medical students are more addicted to the internet than their female counterparts. The result is comparable to the outcome of other experiments.…”

Networked Human, Network’s Human: Humans in Networks Inter-Asia

“…These sophisticated analyses, often quite nuanced, are typically conducted with an eye toward what these might mean for the region's potential for democracy or civil society, seeking to support the work of digital activists and rights groups and other "positive deviants" (Xu and Feng 2015) against authoritarian regimes. This is particularly true of such scholarship on China, where patient considerations of the meanings and consequences of the Golden Shield/Great Firewall, Internet, and social media addiction (see Shao et al 2018;Wang et al 2013) and the effect of Internet penetration on political beliefs (see Wang 2014) abound. Though our special issue does not include a contribution to this literature on China, no special issue can do anything but aspire to a comprehensive completeness.…”