Dysfunctional Internet Use by Adolescents in an Urban Environment: Α Case-Control Study

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Background: Dysfunctional internet use (DIU), or Internet Addiction Disorder, refers to excessive engagement with internet use which results in significant impairment of the individual’s ability to function in various fields of life, for an extended period of time. This multifactorial phenomenon concerns every society throughout the contemporary world. The present study examines personal, familial and social factors associated with DIU in adolescents who grew up in an urban environment during a period of severe economic crisis. Materials and methods: DIU cases were matched 1:1 by age and gender to controls in a retrospective case-control study. The clinical sample consisted of adolescents who had been referred to the Adolescent Health Unit of the 2nd Department of Pediatrics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, and diagnosed as "Internet Addicted". Adolescents in the control group had been referred to the same Department for reasons other than DIU. Analysis was by conditional logistic regression with the presence of DIU as dependent variable. Results: In multivariate analysis, family status (the adolescent not living with both parents) was a statistically significant risk factor for DIU (odds ratio 5.03, 95% confidence interval 1.20 – 21.0). Protective factors were participation in physical activity (odds ratio 0.05, 0.01 – 0.19) and antisocial behavior (odds ratio 0.10, 0.04 – 0.25). Conclusions: Our findings indicate factors strongly associated with adolescent DIU in an urban setting during the economic crisis and complement other studies which have largely been based on self-report school surveys.