Association of Individual and Neighborhood Characteristics to Problematic Internet Use among Youths and Adolescents: Evidence from Vietnam

Abstract

Introduction: This study aimed to determine latent profiles from the Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire Short Form-6 (PIUQ-SF-6) score of Vietnamese youths and adolescents, which supports the diagnosis of problematic internet use among a large sample size. Moreover, it also explored factors that affect each latent profile of the PIUQ-SF-6 score among participants. Methods: A sample of 1477 Vietnamese people, aged 14 to 24, across five provinces participated in the study. Multinomial logistic regression determined factors related to the levels of the Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire Short Form-6 (PIUQ-SF-6) after using latent profile analysis. Results: Participants were divided into three profiles, including those at low, moderate, and high risk of internet addiction. The high-risk latent profile was obtained for 23.1% of adolescents, and the remaining percentages were, respectively, 40.2% and 36.7% of adolescents belonging to the moderate and low-risk groups. Moreover, factors including age, living alone, high Kessler psychological distress scale, excessive time on the internet, living in central cities, and high neighborhood disorder scores were found to be related to moderate- and high-risk internet addiction profiles. Conclusions: Factors analyzed according to individual and social characteristics further explore the reasons underlying increasing internet addiction among Vietnamese youths and inform early interventions.

Socio-demographic and mental health correlates of internet addiction amongst Hong Kong university students under COVID-19

“…Fourth, studies showed that living alone ( Achab et al, 2011 ; Chi et al, 2020 ; Savolainen et al, 2020 ) is a risk factor for IA during the pandemic. For example, a study on 1,477 youth in Vietnam showed that living alone was associated with a higher risk of IA ( Nguyen et al, 2023 ). In addition, compared to those living with family or roommates, Hong Kong university students who lived alone experienced more severe stress, anxiety, and depression during the epidemic ( Shek et al, 2022a ), which might trigger their higher IA.…”