Abstract
PurposesThis study examined the prevalence of addictive Internet use and analyzed the role of parental relationship in affecting this behavior among a random sample of adolescents in Wuhan, China.MethodsStudents (n = 1,101) were randomly selected from four schools, including 638 boys and 463 girls with a mean age of 13.8 (standard deviation = 1.2) years. Addictive Internet use, parental relationship, hyperactivity-impulsivity were measured by validated instruments. Prevalence rate, ANOVA and multiple linear regression method were used to analyze the level of Internet addiction and its association with parental relationship, hyperactivity-impulsivity, as well as the interaction of parental relationship with chronological age and hyperactivity-impulsivity.ResultsThe prevalence rate of Internet addiction was 13.5% (16.5% for boys and 9.5% for girls, p<0.01). Compared to non-addictive users, addictive Internet users were scored significantly lower on parental relationships and significantly higher on hyperactivity-impulsivity. Interaction analysis indicated that better parental relationship was associated with more reductions in risk of addictive Internet use for younger students than for older students, and with more risk of Internet addiction among higher than among lower hyperactivity-impulsivity students.ConclusionsFindings of this study indicate that adolescent addictive Internet use is a significant public health threat in China. Prevention interventions targeting parental relationship must consider adolescent’s age and hyperactivity-impulsivity tendency.
Highlights
An Explosive Growth in Netizens and Addictive Internet UseThe number of people who use Internet or netizens in China has experienced an explosive growth in the past two decades
A chisquare test indicated that the prevalence rates were significantly higher for males than for females (16.5% vs. 9.5%, p,0.01) and significantly higher for older adolescents than for younger adolescents (15.7% vs. 11.5%, p,0.05)
Findings of this study add new data for us to understand the role of parental relationship and its interaction with age and hyperactivity-impulsivity in affecting the likelihood of adolescent Internet addiction
Summary
An Explosive Growth in Netizens and Addictive Internet UseThe number of people who use Internet or netizens in China has experienced an explosive growth in the past two decades. Survey data as well as technical records from China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) indicate that the total number of netizens in China increased from 0.62 million in 1997 to 126 million in 2006, and to 513 million by December, 2011 [1,2]. Of these netizens, more than a half (56.5%) or approximately 300 million are young Chinese less than 30 years of age. To facilitate Internet addiction research, she developed a measure, Young’s Internet Addiction Test [6], which has been widely used in reported research studies [7,8]
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