Internet addiction in adolescents: Prevalence and risk factors

Abstract

As new media are becoming daily fare, Internet addiction appears as a potential problem in adolescents. From the reported negative consequences, it appears that Internet addiction can have a variety of detrimental outcomes for young people that may require professional intervention.Researchers have now identified a number of activities and personality traits associated with Internet addiction. This study aimed to synthesise previous findings by (i) assessing the prevalence of potential Internet addiction in a large sample of adolescents, and (ii) investigating the interactions between personality traits and the usage of particular Internet applications as risk factors for Internet addiction. A total of 3,105 adolescents in the Netherlands filled out a self-report questionnaire including the Compulsive Internet Use Scale and the Quick Big Five Scale. Results indicate that 3.7% of the sample were classified as potentially being addicted to the Internet. The use of online gaming and social applications (online social networking sites and Twitter) increased the 2 risk for Internet addiction, whereas extraversion and conscientiousness appeared as protective factors in high frequency online gamers. The findings support the inclusion of 'Internet addiction' in the DSM-V. Vulnerability and resilience appear as significant aspects that require consideration in further studies.

The Relationship Between Internet Usage, Socioeconomic Status, Subjective Health and Social Status

“…The younger generations take the lead in using communication tools for chatting and instant messaging and also for entertainment and downloading music. The studies also reveal that older people are primarily involved in online purchases, emailing and searches for health issues (Kuss, Van Rooij, Shorter, Griffiths, & van de Mheen, 2013).…”

Internet Addiction: A Systematic Review of Epidemiological Research for the Last Decade

“…Moreover, the following personality characteristics were reported: novelty seeking, harm avoidance, and low reward dependence [86], low self-esteem [78], frustration intolerance (particularly for males) [83], introversion [40], low agreeableness, low emotional stability [40,52], low conscientiousness and resourcefulness [52]. In addition, social variables were social adaptation [63], stress [65], low academic achievement [45,50], poor relations with school [65,81], leisure boredom [75], breadth of extracurricular activities [78], peers and siblings who drink alcohol [81,87].…”

“…A total of 21 studies were identified that used miscellaneous criteria. Of these, 14 studies used miscellaneous criteria to identify Internet addiction in adolescents [40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52]. In addition to the adolescent samples, miscellaneous classification criteria for Internet addiction have been used in adult samples, including a total of eight studies [53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60].…”

“…Moreover, the following Internet use variables were found to be associated with Internet addiction in adolescents: age of first exposure to the Internet [195], Internet use for entertainment purposes [63], frequency and length of Internet use [45,63,64,76], Internet access at home [61], Internet usage at an Internet café [70,78], the use of online gaming [46,52,69,196], social applications [45,46,52], and other Internet applications [69]. In addition to this, parental guidance with regards to Internet behaviours was reported to be associated with Internet addiction, specifically little parental communication about Internet use, rules about Internet times [41], and a lack of rules regarding Internet use [50].…”

“…A total of 13 studies used miscellaneous criteria to identify Internet addiction in adolescents [40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52]. Sample sizes varied from including 1,098 adolescents in Singapore [43] to 73,238 adolescents in South Korea [51].…”