Assessment of Problematic Internet Use by the Compulsive Internet Use Scale and the Internet Addiction Test: A Sample of Problematic and Pathological Gamblers

Abstract

This study aims to analyze psychometric properties and validity of the Compulsive Internet Use Scale (CIUS) and the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) and, second, to determine a threshold for the CIUS which matches the IAT cut-off for detecting problematic Internet use. A total of 292 subjects with problematic or pathological gambling (237 men, 55 women) aged 14-63 years and with private Internet use for at least 1 h per working or weekend day were recruited via different recruitment channels. Results include that both scales were internally consistent (Cronbach's α = 0.9) and had satisfactory convergent validity (r = 0.75; 95% CI 0.70-0.80). The correlation with duration of private Internet use per week was significantly higher for the CIUS (r = 0.54) compared to the IAT (r = 0.40). Among all participants, 25.3% were classified as problematic Internet users based on the IAT with a cut-off ≥40. The highest proportion of congruent classified cases results from a CIUS cut-off ≥18 (sensitivity 79.7%, specificity 79.4%). However, a higher cut-off (≥21) seems to be more appropriate for prevalence estimation of problematic Internet use.

Differences between specific and generalized problematic Internet uses according to gender, age, time spent online and psychopathological symptoms

“…Our results also highlighted that among women (and young adults), time spent online and certain SPIU were better predictors of GPIU, while for men some SPIU would be sufficient, as other authors showed (Durkee et al, 2012;Guertler et al, 2014). This could explain while some authors have suggested that time spent on the Internet was not a good indicator of GPIU (Guertler et al, 2014;Pawlikowski, Nader, et al, 2012).…”

“…This could explain while some authors have suggested that time spent on the Internet was not a good indicator of GPIU (Guertler et al, 2014;Pawlikowski, Nader, et al, 2012). This should be further investigated by taking in consideration gender, age and online activities.…”

“…Some recent studies focused on those online addictive behaviors, particularly related to video gaming (King et al, 2013), gambling (Guertler et al, 2014), sex (Shaughnessy, Byers, & Thornton, 2011), shopping (Rose & Dhandayudham, 2014) or communication and social networking (Mazer & Ledbetter, 2012). Indeed, some behaviors could present a particularly addictive potential, such as online problematic behaviors related to sex, gaming, gambling (Guertler et al, 2014) or social networking (Kuss & Griffiths, 2011), and could foster the development of a PIU or a Generalized Problematic Internet Use (GPIU) (Adièle & Olatokun, 2014;Kuss, Griffiths, Karila, & Billieux, 2014;Wallace & Masiak, 2011).…”

“…Indeed, some behaviors could present a particularly addictive potential, such as online problematic behaviors related to sex, gaming, gambling (Guertler et al, 2014) or social networking (Kuss & Griffiths, 2011), and could foster the development of a PIU or a Generalized Problematic Internet Use (GPIU) (Adièle & Olatokun, 2014;Kuss, Griffiths, Karila, & Billieux, 2014;Wallace & Masiak, 2011). However, while a growing number of authors suggests to differentiate GPIU from each SPIU (Carli et al, 2011;Durkee et al, 2012;Griffiths, 2013;Kuss, van Rooij, Shorter, Griffiths, & van de Mheen, 2013;Montag et al, 2014;Pawlikowski, Nader, et al, 2012;Rehbein & Möble, 2013;Tonioni et al, 2014), some SPIU have rarely been evaluated (e.g., related to online problematic working, information seeking or watching and downloading video or music).…”

Work Stress and Subsequent Risk of Internet Addiction Among Information Technology Engineers in Taiwan

“…Researchers have suggested that identification of the ''problematic Internet user,'' a possible case of IA, is particularly relevant to define target groups for early intervention of IA. 22 DCS model. The Job Content Questionnaire ( JCQ) consists of 22 items for three major scales.…”