Risk factors and psychosocial characteristics of potential problematic and problematic internet use among adolescents: A cross-sectional study

BMC Public Health

Research Article

Georgios Kormas¹  Mari Janikian¹  Artemis Tsitsika¹  Dimitrios Kafetzis²  Elena Critselis² 

[1] Adolescent Health Unit (A.H.U.), Second Department of Pediatrics, «P. & A. Kyriakou» Children's Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens School of Medicine, Greece;Second Department of Pediatrics, «P. & A. Kyriakou» Children's Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens School of Medicine, Athens, Greece;

关键词: problematic internet use;    adolescent;    internet;    psychosocial factors;    behavior;    addictive;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2458-11-595

 received in 2010-12-02, accepted in 2011-07-27,  发布年份 2011

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundProblematic internet use (PIU) is associated with a plethora of psychosocial adversities. The study objectives were to assess the determinants and psychosocial implications associated with potential PIU and PIU among adolescents.MethodsA cross-sectional study design was applied among a random sample (n = 866) of Greek adolescents (mean age: 14.7 years). Self-completed questionnaires, including internet use characteristics, Young Internet Addiction Test, and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, were utilized to examine the study objectives.ResultsAmong the study population, the prevalence rates of potential PIU and PIU were 19.4% and 1.5%, respectively. Multinomial logistic regression indicated that male gender (Odds Ratio, OR: 2.01; 95% Confidence Interval, 95% CI: 1.35-3.00), as well as utilizing the internet for retrieving sexual information (OR: 2.52; 95% CI: 1.53-4.12), interactive game playing (OR: 1.85; 95% CI: 1.21-2.82), and socialization, including chat-room use (OR: 1.97; 95% CI: 1.36-2.86) and email (OR: 1.53; 95% CI: 1.05-2.24), were independently associated with potential PIU and PIU. Adolescents with potential PIU had an increased likelihood of concomitantly presenting with hyperactivity (OR: 4.39; 95% CI: 2.03-9.52) and conduct (OR: 2.56; 95% CI: 1.46-4.50) problems. Moreover, adolescent PIU was significantly associated with hyperactivity (OR: 9.96; 95% CI: 1.76-56.20) and conduct (OR: 8.39; 95% CI: 2.04-34.56) problems, as well as comprehensive psychosocial maladjustment (OR: 8.08; 95% CI: 1.44-45.34).ConclusionsThe determinants of potential PIU and PIU include accessing the internet for the purposes of retrieving sexual information, game playing, and socialization. Furthermore, both potential PIU and PIU are adversely associated with notable behavioral and social maladjustment among adolescents.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Kormas et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2011. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.