Impact of family determinants on internet addiction among adolescents in a rural block, Tamilnadu

Abstract

Globally, it is agreed that the internet can serve as a tool that enhances well-being but there is no consensus regarding what constitutes problematic internet use and internet use relationship with offline behavioral addictions. Internet addiction threatens to develop into a major public health issue in the near future in a rapidly developing country like India. The objective of this study is to estimate the prevalence of internet addiction disorder and to assess the impact of family determinants on internet addiction among adolescents in a rural block, Tamil Nādu the study was conducted among school going adolescents with age group 13 to 19 years in a rural block. A pretested semi-structured questionnaire was used with the Internet addiction test questionnaire (IAT) to evaluate internet addiction disorder. The study included 406 adolescents of which 173 were males and 233 were females. Female’s adolescence was more addicted to internet than males. Among the participants 23.9 % had moderate addiction and 1.5% had severe addiction. The study reported higher addiction among adolescents of illiterate parents especially among those who were employed.