Problematic Internet use or Internet addiction?

The aim of this paper is to review the gradually evolving body of the literature on Internet addiction. Two schools of thought have emerged: those authors who believe that Internet addiction merits classification as a new or emerging psychiatric disorder in its own right, and those who define certain individuals as having problematic Internet use in relation to specific online activities, such as gambling, email or pornography. Despite a total lack of methodologically sound research, the evidence appears to support the second perspective. It appears that individuals who are premorbidly vulnerable, especially with a history of impulse control and addictive disorders, are especially at risk of using the Internet in a problematic way. Aside from the personal and social implications of this finding, this behavior has important implications for the workplace and may be resulting in substantial loss of productivity in companies who are not implementing Internet governance policies.     

Internet Abusive Use Questionnaire: Psychometric properties

Regardless of the different theoretical positions held at present, we can probably agree that an abusive and problematic use of the Internet exists. We present an instrumental study whose objective is to develop a brief, valid, and reliable questionnaire to measure this abuse in epidemiological contexts. The Internet Abusive Use Questionnaire (IAUQ) consists of 12 items to respond to according to the Likert scale. A total of 908 respondents participated, 48% males, with ages ranging between 17 and 70 years. The IAUQ showed a single factor structure. This model presents a good adjustment, with CFI, GFI, and NFI fit index over .90. Internal consistency was found to be .90. The IAUQ showed direct correlations with the Internet abusive use self-assessment, anxiety and depression, and inverse correlations with quality of life. All correlations were significant (p < .001), which demonstrated convergent validity. Significant differences were also found in the IAUQ scores among groups with different age, cultural level, and other addictions, which evidenced discriminant validity. In conclusion, the obtained results demonstrate structural validity and adequate indices of convergent validity and discriminative capacity. These psychometric characteristics —combined with the fact that the IAUQ evaluates harmful use of Internet briefly and simply— fulfill our goal.     

Problematic Internet use and psychosocial well-being among MMO players

The current study examined problematic Internet use (PIU) among people who play MMO games and sought to determine whether aspects of the MMO experience are useful predictors of PIU. The study sought to determine whether game-related variables could predict PIU scores after accounting for their relationships with psychosocial well-being. Novel methods allowed us, for the first time, to connect in-game behaviors with survey results of over 4000 MMO players. The results revealed that MMO gaming variables contributed a substantively small, but statistically significant amount of explained variance to PIU scores.     

Problematic internet use among older adolescents: A conceptual framework

Problematic internet use (PIU) is of growing significance to adolescent health, but lacks a strong conceptual framework to guide ongoing work. We used Concept Mapping methodology to construct a theoretical framework describing PIU. This validated approach includes five steps: preparation, generation (brainstorming), structuring (sort and rank), representation (statistical analysis) and interpretation (focus groups). Analysis included hierarchical cluster analysis over the overall square similarity matrix to determine a cluster map. A total of 193 college students participated in one or more phases of the study. Students were from 13 universities across 10 states, had an average age of 19.4 years (SD = 1.8), were 67% female and 77% Caucasian. A total of 20 health professionals participated. The seven clusters depicted on the PIU Concept Map include: psychosocial risk factors, physical impairment, emotional impairment, social/functional impairment, risky internet use, impulsive internet use and internet use dependence. The stress value for the fit of the multidimensional solution to the structuring data was 0.28, indicating adequate fit. The concept map may be used towards development of a future comprehensive model of PIU as well as scale development efforts.     

Factorial validity of problematic Internet use scales

There exists a number of multidimensional measurement scales for problematic Internet use (PIU) with varying factor structures. This study reviews the factor analytic techniques used to develop these measures and discusses their implications for the factorial validity, particularly discriminant validity, of these PIU scales. To further illustrate these points, we reformulate the four-factor Online Cognition Scale into a more parsimonious two-factor measure (i.e., dependency and distraction) and demonstrate its factorial validity as well as robustness across student and working adult samples. Contributions of this research are discussed.     

Internet addiction among adolescents in Lebanon

Internet addiction has been a subject of research since 1996. In step with this trend, this study aims to illuminate Internet addiction in Lebanon based on research evidence. The timing of this study coincides with the growing rate of penetration of Internet service across the country and with current plans to improve this service. This study investigates Internet usage among adolescents, who are the most vulnerable to Internet addiction in the population. Permission to access schools to conduct this research was obtained from the Ministry of Education and Higher Education. A web-based questionnaire was completed by 833 intermediate and secondary students from public and private schools. The questionnaire included items on demographic information and Internet usage and an Arabic version of Young’s Internet Addiction Test (YIAT). The results showed that 4.2% of the sample had significant problems. Furthermore, the more problematic Internet use (PIU) was, the less the Internet was used for information and research, and the more it was used for entertainment. PIU is driven by deficiency needs fuelled by the use of interactive applications. The more deficient the need, the greater the obsession with top-notch interactive applications, and the less frequent the usage of non-interactive applications.     

Problematic Internet use: Perceptions of addiction counsellors

Despite a growing number of publications on problematic Internet use (PIU), there is no consensus on the nature of the phenomenon, its constituent criteria, and its clinical threshold. This qualitative study examines the perceptions of addiction counsellors who have managed individuals with PIU in Québec (Canada). Four focus groups were conducted with 21 addictions counsellors working in public addiction rehabilitation centres. Discussion groups were digitally recorded, transcribed using a word processor, and analyzed using N’vivo 8.0 software. The results present the perceptions of counsellors regarding case management issues, including problematic applications, clinical picture, number of hours of Internet use for assessment, and for treatment.     

Cognitive and psychological predictors of the negative outcomes associated with playing MMOGs (massively multiplayer online games)

This study integrates research on problematic Internet use to explore the cognitive and psychological predictors of negative consequences associated with playing massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs). Participants recruited from online discussion boards completed self-report measures on their online game-related cognitions and psychological condition, social skills, psychological well-being, and negative life outcomes associated with game playing. The results demonstrated the important roles that psychological dependency and deficient self-regulation play in negative consequences associated with online gaming. The results also indicated that psychological dependency on MMOGs was predicted by cognitive preference for a virtual life—a construct that is negatively related to social control skills.     

Validation and psychometric properties of a short version of Young’s Internet Addiction Test

A key element of research on Internet addiction is a valid and reliable assessment of problems individuals experience in their daily life due to an excessive or pathological use of the Internet. One of the most frequently used questionnaires is Young’s Internet Addiction Test (IAT). However, the factorial structure of the IAT is still discussed controversially. In four studies with different samples we (a) addressed the factorial structure of the IAT with exploratory factor analysis and reduced the items to those with sufficient factor loadings and good item characteristics, (b) checked the factorial structure using confirmatory factor analysis, and (c) analyzed convergent, divergent and incremental validities. We revealed a short version of the IAT, which consists of 12 items and a two-factorial solution with good reliability (study 1). The two factors were named “loss of control/time management” and “craving/social problems”. This two-factorial solution was confirmed by the confirmatory factor analysis (study 2) and we have found good indices for convergent, divergent and incremental validity (studies 3 and 4). In conclusion, the short version of the IAT has good psychometric properties and represents the Internet addiction’s key elements based on the proposed diagnostic criteria.     

Internet addiction’s effect on likeability and rapport

The Internet Paradox refers to findings that demonstrated that the increase in communications brought about by Internet usage actually had negative effects on user’s psychological well-being and social involvement. This study proposes that face-to-face contact promotes the development of rapport and thereby individuals that use the internet excessively will lack these necessary social skills. Specifically, we investigate whether, through use of telephone communications, average users ratings of likeability and rapport would differ when speaking to excessive internet users. This experiment utilized previously unacquainted individuals who conversed by telephone while discussing both, a cooperative and an adversarial task. Results indicate that excessive users were more likely to be depressed and socially inhibited, and also were rated as having a lower level of rapport and likeability. Further research is required in order to explain the role of personality in excessive internet usage.     

Internet use and psychological well-being among college students: A latent profile approach

Studies of correlations between Internet use and psychological well-being (PW) have produced mixed results. The present study used a latent profile analysis to distinguish among populations in terms of PW profiles, and then used a multinomial logistic regression to determine how online entertainment, social use, problematic Internet use (PIU), and gender predicted each latent PW profile. The initial sample consisted of 757 Taiwanese college freshmen. Four ordered latent groups were established as follows: good PW, normative, minor-disadvantageous, and severe-disadvantageous. No latent PW profile stability was found in subsequent years: three groups (normative, minor-disadvantageous and severe-disadvantageous) emerged in Year 2, and only one group emerged in Year 3. The results indicate (a) no relationship between PW and online entertainment or gender, (b) greater PIU increased the likelihood of disadvantageous PW and decreased the probability of good PW, and (c) greater use of online resources for social purposes was related to increased probability of a participant being in the good PW group, but not associated with fewer PW problems.     

Cross-lagged relationships between problematic Internet use and lifestyle changes

Cross-lagged analysis of panel survey data collected from Taiwanese college students (initially 387 males and 370 females) was used to examine the temporal relationship between problematic Internet use (PIU) and lifestyle changes during the first year in college. We hypothesized that a reciprocal relationship might exist between PIU and lifestyle changes. Structural equation modeling was adopted to test several nested cross-lagged relationship models. The results showed that four measures of lifestyle changes and PIU were moderately to highly stable across one year. Moreover, PIU in freshman year predicted negative changes in lifestyle in the following year, including a reduction of physical and social activities, irregular diet and unhealthy sleep. Lifestyle changes in freshman year, in contrast, did not predict PIU in sophomore year; the hypothesized reciprocal relationship between PIU and lifestyle changes was not warranted. Implications and limitations are discussed.     

Problematic Internet and mobile phone use and clinical symptoms in college students: The role of emotional intelligence

This study deals with maladaptive use of the Internet and the mobile phone and its relationship to symptoms of psychological distress and mental disorder, as well as to the possible role of Perceived Emotional Intelligence in this relationship. Three hundred and sixty-five undergraduate university freshmen at Ramon Llull University, Barcelona (Spain), majoring in four different studies (Psychology, Education, Journalism and Broadcasting, and Health Studies) replied to scales assessing the negative consequences of maladaptive use of both the Internet (CERI) and the mobile phone (CERM), a self-report scale on Perceived Emotional Intelligence (TMMS-24), and a clinical instrument to check for complaints related to the presence of psychological distress (Symptom Checklist-90-R; SCL-90-R). Results indicate that psychological distress is related to maladaptive use of both the Internet and the mobile phone; females scored higher than males on the mobile phone questionnaire, showing more negative consequences of its maladaptive use. With respect to major study, students of Journalism and Broadcasting showed a more maladaptive pattern of Internet use than students of other majors. The components of Perceived Emotional Intelligence contributed to the explanation of the variance of the general indicators of psychological distress, but to a lesser degree than maladaptive use of Internet and mobile phone.     

Theory and measurement of generalized problematic Internet use: A two-step approach

This study tested an updated cognitive-behavioral model of generalized problematic Internet use and reports results of a confirmatory analysis of the Generalized Problematic Internet Use Scale 2 (GPIUS2). Overall, the results indicated that a preference for online social interaction and use of the Internet for mood regulation, predict deficient self-regulation of Internet use (i.e., compulsive Internet use and a cognitive preoccupation with the Internet). In turn, deficient self-regulation was a significant predictor of the extent to which one’s Internet use led to negative outcomes. Results indicated the model fit the data well and variables in the model accounted for 27% of the variance in mood regulation scores, 65% of variance in participants’ deficient self-regulation scores, and 61% of variance in the negative outcome scores.     

Stressful life events and problematic Internet use by adolescent females and males: A mediated moderation model

In a sample of 660 adolescents (M age = 14.14 years; 55% females), this study examined a mediated moderation model in which temperamental effortful control and sensation seeking moderated the relationship between stressful life events and problematic Internet use (PIU), and this moderating effect was mediated by maladaptive cognitions. Findings revealed that effortful control buffered the risk of stressful life events for females’ PIU, and this effect was mediated through maladaptive cognitions. The risk-buffering effect of effortful control for males’ PIU was not significant, although it buffered the risk of maladaptive cognitions for PIU. The risk-enhancing effect of sensation seeking was not significant in both female and male adolescents. In addition, males scored higher on risks but lower on protective factors of PIU than females, which explain the gender difference in PIU. The authors discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.     

Toward a comprehensive theory of problematic Internet use: Evaluating the role of self-esteem,anxiety, flow,and the self-rated importance of Internet activities

Problematic Internet use (PIU) has long been a matter of public concern. Study 1 examined the correlates of a well-validated measure of Internet addiction [Young, K. S. (1998). Caught in the net. New York: John Wiley and Sons] with 315 students (39% male). Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that low self-esteem, unrealistic optimism, and the importance of 7-positive activities (I7PA) all contributed to the prediction of PIU. The inclusion of controls for aspects of Internet uses and demographic characters showed a clear distinction between PIU and frequent Internet use. Subjects who anticipated that negative outcomes were more likely to happen to them than to peers were none-the-less more likely to engage in PIU. The more important positive activities were, the greater the PIU. SEM model suggested that unrealistic optimism was best treated as part of PIU and that low self-esteem and the I7PA were the powerful predictors of PIU. Study 2 tested SEM models of psychosocial characteristics with 279 students (48% male). Anxiety and flow were added as predictors and the felt safety for social contacts was added to Global PIU following Caplan [Caplan, S. E. (2002). Problematic Internet use and psychosocial well-being: Development of a theory-based cognitive-behavioral measurement instrument. Computers in Human Behavior, 18, 553–575]. The more complex model provided excellent fit and showed that low self-esteem, anxiety, and the I7PA were positively related to PIU. The relationship both of flow and sensation-seeking was mediated by the 17PA. Research on the topic has been relatively atheoretical. We propose a theoretical template to guide future research on PIU.     

Online flow experiences,problematic Internet use and Internet procrastination

This study explores the theoretical and practical overlap between online procrastination, problematic Internet use, and flow on the Internet. At the theoretical level there is a great deal of interrelatedness between these three concepts (for example, all three concepts deal with the issue of a lack of control over time spent online and acknowledge the distracting and entertaining properties of the Internet); yet, one can also argue that the concepts are theoretically distinct (for example, flow is a total absorption in the work at hand, whereas procrastination is the avoidance of the work at hand). All three concepts have been used to describe either desirable (flow) or undesirable (procrastination and problematic Internet use) states when online. In this study a sample of 1399 Internet users was obtained from a survey placed on a South African online information technology magazine. Using the problematic Internet use questionnaire (PIUQ), the distraction subscale of the online cognition scale (OCS), and a modified version of the Flow scale it was found that there were strong positive relationships between all three variables (the strongest relationship being between problematic Internet use and online procrastination). The results also suggested that procrastination may be a connector between PIU and flow; also that PIU is a connector between procrastination and flow, but that flow is independent of the relationship between PIU and procrastination. These results are discussed in relation to previous studies on problematic Internet use and in particular, whether these relationships are unique to respondents involved in the information technology sector.     

A conceptual and methodological critique of internet addiction research: Towards a model of compensatory internet use

Internet addiction is a rapidly growing field of research, receiving attention from researchers, journalists and policy makers. Despite much empirical data being collected and analyzed clear results and conclusions are surprisingly absent. This paper argues that conceptual issues and methodological shortcomings surrounding internet addiction research have made theoretical development difficult. An alternative model termed compensatory internet use is presented in an attempt to properly theorize the frequent assumption that people go online to escape real life issues or alleviate dysphoric moods and that this sometimes leads to negative outcomes. An empirical approach to studying compensatory internet use is suggested by combining the psychological literature on internet addiction with research on motivations for internet use. The theoretical argument is that by understanding how motivations mediate the relationship between psychosocial well-being and internet addiction, we can draw conclusions about how online activities may compensate for psychosocial problems. This could help explain why some people keep spending so much time online despite experiencing negative outcomes. There is also a methodological argument suggesting that in order to accomplish this, research needs to move away from a focus on direct effects models and consider mediation and interaction effects between psychosocial well-being and motivations in the context of internet addiction. This is key to further exploring the notion of internet use as a coping strategy; a proposition often mentioned but rarely investigated.