Research on Relationship Among Internet-Addiction, Personality Traits and Mental Health of Urban Left-Behind Children

Abstract

Aim:In this research, we attempted at exploring the relationships among urban left-behind children’s internet-addiction, personality traits and mental health.Methods:In the form of three relevant questionnaires (Adolescent Pathological Internet Use Scale, Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, Children’s Edition in Chinese and Mental Health Test), 796 urban left-behind children in China were investigated, concerning internet-addiction, personality traits and mental health.Results:(1) The internet-addiction rate of urban left-behind children in China reached10.8%—a relatively high figure, with the rate among males higher than that among females. In terms of internet-addition salience, the figure of urban left-behind children was obviously higher than that of non-left-behind children. (2) In China, the personality deviation rate of the overall left-behind children was 15.36%; while the personality deviation rate of the internet-addicted urban left-behind children was 38.88%, a figure prominently higher than that of the non-addicted urban left-behind children group, with the rate among females higher than that among males. (3) The mental health problem rate of the overall urban left-behind children in China was 8.43%; while the rate of the internet-addicted urban left-behind children was 27.77%, a figure significantly higher than that of the non-addicted urban left-behind children. (4) There were significant relationships among internet-addiction, personality traits and mental health. The total score of internet-addiction and its related dimensions can serve as indicators of personality neuroticism, psychoticism and the total scores of mental health.

Virtual behaviors affecting adolescent mental health: The usage of Internet and mobile phone and cyberbullying

“…In the present study, anxiety, depression, negative self-esteem, somatization and hostility mean scores were found to be higher in the adolescents using Internet for more than 1 hour a day compared to the adolescents using Internet for an hour or less in a day. Studies support these results and demonstrate that there is a significant correlation between the mental health and Internet usage (Choi, Park, & Cha, 2017;Lai et al, 2015;Ying & Zhang, 2015). In the previous studies, excessive Internet use of adolescents was found to be associated with depression (Ho et al, 2014), hostility (Alpaslan, Avcı, Soylu & Guzel, 2014), anxiety (Ho et al, 2014), somatization (Cerutti, Presaghi, Spensieri, Valastro, & Guidetti, 2016), attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (Yen, Ko, Yen, Wu, & Yang, 2007), and suicidal ideation (Alpaslan et al, 2014;I.…”

Psychometric Analysis on Neurotransmitter Deficiency of Internet Addicted Urban Left-behind Children

“…A previous study result [11] indicated that internet-addicted urban Total score 0.86 *** 0.87 *** 0.94 *** 0.92 *** 1 Note: *: p<0.05; **: p<0.01; ***: p<0.001 Table 2: Correlation coefficient between each factor of SSND and between each factor and SSND. left-behind children had characteristics such as anxiety, restlessness, introversion and difficulty in daily communication and that internet addiction had a certain prediction effect on personality trait, which conformed to symptoms expressed under deficiency of the four neurotransmitters.…”

“…In aspect of gender, the deficiency extent on the four main neurotransmitters of left-behind male children was higher than that of left-behind female children (except that on DA), and there was a significant difference in γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) deficiency extent between the both genders, which indicated that the neurotransmitter deficiency extent of the male children was severer than that of the female children. Generally, the internet addiction rate of male is higher than that of female [2,3,39] and such rule is still applicable in urban left-behind children [11]. High-addiction-level individuals seem to suffer severe neurotransmitter deficiency, but the internal relation is to be further explored.…”

“…Generally, this group of children has enough economic capacity to afford internet usage and is easy to be addicted to internet in case of improper guidance during internet usage, resulting in various deviations. As shown by the latest studies, their internet addiction rate is 10.8% [11], being in a relatively high level.…”

Understanding the Situation of China's Left‐Behind Children: A Mixed‐Methods Analysis

“…The test is a variation of the children's Manifest Anxiety Scale, a scale that has been widely used in the United States and other developed countries for more than a decade as a screening and clinical tool. Researchers have used this test extensively across China to measure the mental health of grade school students in urban contexts (Zhou ; Deng, Lei, and Cao ; Ge, Se, and Zhang ).…”