Prevalence and Factors of Addictive Internet Use among Adolescents in Wuhan, China: Interactions of Parental Relationship with Age and Hyperactivity-Impulsivity

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.

Internet Addiction: A Review of the First Twenty Years

“…Reported rates vary from 2.4% to 13.5% in Chinese schools (Deng et al 2007;Wu et al 2013) and from 1.6% to 20.3% in South Korean adolescents (Kim et al 2006). In the United States, rates vary from 0.7% to 26.3% in adolescents and college students (Moreno et al 2011).…”

An overview of internet use among professionals of Moradabad: a critical appraisal

“…15,16 A study done by Ghamari et al among Iranian medical students, had shown the overall prevalence of internet addiction to be 10.8% with moderate and severe internet addiction equal to 8% and 2.8%, respectively.…”

“…20 The data available from the various community and online surveys suggest that internet addiction appears to have a male preponderance, which was observed in our study also. [15][16][17][18][19] This may be due to the gizmo friendly behaviour of males as well as their more interest in games. Among the other sociodemographic variables, Age less than 20 years was one of the other risk factors for internet addiction; younger students were at a significantly higher risk as compared with those over 20 years of age.…”

The Dynamics of Online Activities and Its Impact on Well-Being in Urban China

“…Similar observations can be found in clinical researches in China, which have contributed to the previous literature by focusing on the ways in which Internet adoption shapes subjective well-being among adolescents. Accordingly, problematic and addictive Internet use is associated with increased depression and decreased life satisfaction among Chinese adolescents (Lam and Peng, 2010;Wu et al, 2013). Meanwhile, other studies suggest that appropriate Internet use may improve subjective well-being (Wang and Wang, 2011;Lee et al, 2012;Li, Shi, and Dang, 2014).…”