A Study Of Computer And Internet Access Conditions Of Use And The Factors Related Internet Addiction Among Undergraduate

Objective:To investigate the computer and internet access conditions of use,the prevalence of Internet addiction among undergraduate and to explore the factors related to Internet addiction.Thereby to provide the basic information necessary to develop prevention programs for internet addiction and to plan for health promotion programs.Methods:A total of 950 undergraduate were recruited for the cross-sectional study in a university.Students were administered a Young's Intemet Addiction Scale(YIAS),a Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Short Scale(EPQ-RSC),a Perceived Social Support Scale(PSSS) and asked questions about gender,grades,family economic status,parents' marriage status,parents' attitudes to students internet accesee conditions of use,time of accessing Internet daily,Internet activities,habitual of nicotine use,the life events such as lovelorn,relatives and friends death,etc.The data were analyzed by SPSS 11.5,including descriptive statistics analysis,Chi-Square Test, two-sample t-test,separate variance estimation t-test,rank sum test and crossover analysis;Logistic regression models were employed to explore significant predictors of Internet addiction.Results:①The rate of Internet use among was 97.8%,while the incidence rate of Internet addiction was 10.5%.Time of Internet use was 1～3 hours daily;The main Internet activities included instantaneous communication,multimedia entertainment and read news.Technical ability ofinternet which the student had were at a secondary level.②There was no significant difference between grades and the subject when students were sepereated to two groups,Internet addiction group and non-addiction group.Gender difference was statistically different,more boys in the Internet addiction group(p=0.029).Gender differences were also found in Internet addiction and motives of playing games and visiting adults' webs.Compared with the control group,the Internet addiction group had significantly higher scores on the EPQ subscales of Neuroticism(N) and lower scores on the EPQ subscales of Extraversion (E)and PSSS subscales(P＜0.05).The difference in the rate of lovelorn between the two groups(44.0%vs.28.2%,p=0.002) was also significant,nevertheless,the rate of relatives and friends death was not significant.③Multiple Logistic regression analysis revealed that the gender,parents' attitudes to students substance use,students' attitudes to the internet affection, lovelorn,standpoint on the flaw of Internet use,scores of N,scores of E,scores of PSSS subscales,the interaction of scores of E and scores of PSSS subscales,the interaction of scores of N and students' hometowns were the most significant predictors for Internet addiction.Conclusions:Internet use have become a staple of undergraduate everyday life.The factors associated with Internet addiction were multiple.The interaction of personality traits and perceived social supports,the interaction of personality traits and students' hometowns were a part of major impacting factors of Internet addiction.The studied suggested that it was necessary to evaluate personal traits,and then to provide social supports in the intervention and treatment of Internet-addicted undergraduates.