The prevalence of internet addiction among school-going adolescents: A comparative assessment as per two screening criteria

Abstract

Background: The Internet is an integral part of modern life, and for the vast majority of Internet users, its benefits far outweigh the adverse consequences secondary to excessive use. There is a wide variation of the prevalence of Internet addiction worldwide and scanty evidence on its magnitude among school-going adolescents. Aim: In this study, we evaluated the self-reported Internet addiction measures in the high school children (14–16 years) attending selected schools of Rohtak. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study compared the Internet addiction as per the Young Diagnostic Questionnaire (YDQ) and Internet Addiction Test (IAT) from a consecutive sample of 400 students. We explored the relationship of IA as per these criteria and sociodemographic and Internet use profiles in this population. Results: The prevalence of severe Internet addiction ranged from 4.2% to 4.8% depending on the IAT (cutoff score of 80) and YDQ (cutoff score of >5) measurements, respectively. There was a good concordance between the two criteria for determining the level of Internet addiction (r = 0.848, k = 0.805, P < 0.001). Conclusion: The findings of the present study suggest that there is a good level of concordance between IAT and YDQ. When time is a limitation, YDQ (8 items) can be considered for screening Internet addiction in this setting.