Relationship Of Internet Motivation, Internet Attitude And Internet Dependency In Graduate Students

ObjectiveIn order to understand the status of internet dependency in graduate students and grasp the characteristics of their internet motivation and internet attitude, the factors influencing internet dependency are to be investigated from the aspects of internet motivation and internet attitude, which may help graduate students recognize and use internet correctly, and provide the scientific evidences for improving the status of internet dependency in graduate students.Subjects and methods1. Qualitative research1.1 Subjects25 graduate students from a southern university were included in this study as the research object by the way of recruitment advertising and Chain-type sampling. The Chinese Internet Addiction Scale-revised(CIAS-R) were applied to the 25 research objects, scoring less than 46 points were classified as normal groups namely non-internet dependency group, scoring for 46 points or more were classified as internet dependency group.9 of the two groups entered the pre-interview stage, the others entered the formal interview stage.1.2 Investigated meansChinese Internet Addiction Scale-Revised and Self-made Interview Outline1.3 MethodsFirst, the researcher had told the subjects about his identity and the purpose of the research before the study started. The confidentiality principle of psychology which ensured the interview used for research only was explained to the subjects. The researcher had sought the subjects'consent about recording the conversation before the interview began. Secondly, the subjects were interviewed by the researcher face to face, and the process of the interview was recorded. After that, the researcher wrote down the whole experience of the interview. A lot of detailed information was achieved by the means of transcribing and sorting the record. Base on that, the researcher returned the visit to the subjects for the inadequacy of the interview in order to ensure the facility and the integrity of the study.1.4 Results1.4.1 The graduate students who had internet dependency showed a clear preference on the internet behavior of entertainment and interpersonal communication, and the graduate students who did not have internet dependency showed no preference.1.4.2 The internet motivation of graduate students included entertainment motivation, interpersonal communication motivation, emotional catharsis motivation, academic motivation, self-realization motivation and escapism motivation.1.4.3 In entertainment motivation, internet dependency group used internet for excitement, and the purpose of non-internet dependency group was to ease the pressure of study.1.4.4 In interpersonal communication motivation, internet dependency group used internet for getting emotional support from internet friends, and non-internet dependency group used internet for sustaining realistic relationship.1.4.5 In emotional catharsis motivation, internet was regarded as a main place of expressing emotion by internet dependency group, but the other group thought that realistic way was more important.1.4.6 In academic motivation, internet dependency group used internet for study passively, but non-internet dependency group used internet for this actively.1.4.7 In self-realization motivation, internet dependency group tended to seeking self-realization online, but non-internet dependency group thought that real self-realization was more meaningful.1.4.8 In escapism motivation, internet dependency group thought that internet was a mind shelter, but non-internet dependency group thought that realistic problems should be solved in reality.1.4.9 In internet attitude, all of the graduate students realized the dual character of internet generally, but internet dependency group tended to form a more positive cognition and evaluation on internet.2. Quantitative research2.1 SubjectsThe subjects were from the graduate school of a southern university, selecting by stratified sampling method with grade as the unit.700 questionnaires were delivered, 648 valid questionnaires were collected, and the effective rate was 92.57%. The valid sample included 326 males and 322 females, and the average age of it was 24.48±1.69,2.2 Investigated meansThe investigation applied the Self-made General Situation Questionnaire, Chinese Internet Addiction Scale-Revised, Internet Use Motivation Scale-College Students, and Computer Network Attitude Inventory.2.3 MethodsThe questionnaires were given out by the means of stratified sampling. The subjects were measured by questionnaire survey. In the process of research, Foxpro6.0 was used to build a database, and the statistical software SPSS 13.0 was applied. The statistical methods included descriptive analysis, t-test, correlation analysis and multiple stepwise regression analysis. (α=0.05)2.4 Results2.4.1 Three factors which including gender, grade and local institution performed significant difference between internet dependency group and non-internet dependency group, P<0.05. There were no significant difference in the four factors of major, the only child or not, relationship status, family information.2.4.2 There was a significant difference between the two groups in online time-consumption, P<0.05. A positive correlation was found between internet dependency and online time-consumption, P<0.05.2.4.3 There was a significant difference between the two groups in internet behavior such as online games and e-mail, P<0.05. A positive correlation was found between internet dependency and online games, P<0.05.2.4.4 There was a significant difference between the two groups in internet motivation, P<0.05. A positive correlation was found between internet dependency and interpersonal emotion motivation, P<0.05.2.4.5 There was a significant difference between the two groups in internet attitude, P<0.05. A positive correlation was found between internet dependency and the factor of behavior, P<0.05..2.4.6 Multiple stepwise regression analysis found that 5 factors including behavior, interpersonal emotion motivation, perceived control, information acquisition motivation and affection entered the regression equation, P<0.05。Conclusions1. Graduate students had internet dependency, which suggested that we should pay more attention to their mental health conditions.2. Qualitative interviews found that the interpersonal relationship of some graduate students who had internet dependency was worse, and quantitative research proved that the major internet motivation of internet dependency group was interpersonal emotion motivation, and they showed a preference to interpersonal communication when they were online. This situation showed that they had some interpersonal issues in real life.3. In the aspect of internet attitude, although the graduate students who had internet dependency thought that internet was a double-edged sword, they still inclined to forming positive cognition and evaluation towards internet and experienced less anxiety when they were online. The study showed that they hold a more positive attitude to internet, which caused internet dependency in a certain extent.4. There are four effective ways to improve the current situation of internet dependency in graduate students, which including guiding them to set up the correct internet attitude, strengthening management towards graduate students, creating a favorable environment for interpersonal communication, carrying out relevant educational and consulting activities.Features1.Graduate students were studied as the subject, which was rare in current research.2.In this study, the influence of internet motivation and internet attitude towards internet dependency was discussed by the method which combining qualitative and quantitative research.Limitations1. The representativeness of the sample was limited.2. In qualitative interview process, some interviews failed to fully express their true thought for personal reasons.3. This study was a cross-sectional survey design. It focused on the relationship of internet motivation, internet attitude and the internet dependency. The results did not use for the treatment of internet dependency, but it can be explored in the future.