The Effects of Internet use on School Adjustment and Delinquency

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the long-term relationships between the types of Internet use, school adjustment problems, and delinquent behaviors among Korean adolescents, using the longitudinal data of 7th–9th graders from the Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey (KCYPS). In particular, Internet use was divided into three types, viz. communication, information-seeking, and entertainment, and the effects of each type of Internet use on two types of delinquency (i.e., cyber and actual delinquency) were analyzed. Additionally, the indirect impact of Internet use on delinquency through school maladjustment was investigated. The results were as follows. Only the entertainment type was found to have significant direct positive effects on both actual delinquency and cyber delinquency. Furthermore, all three types of Internet use (communication, information seeking, and entertainment) were found to have significant indirect effects on actual delinquency mediated by school maladjustment. Whereas the communication and entertainment types were positively associated with school maladjustment and, in turn, with subsequent delinquent behaviors, the information seeking type was negatively associated with school maladjustment and, in turn, with subsequent delinquent behaviors.