Measurement Invariance of the Internet Addiction Test Among Hong Kong, Japanese, and Malaysian Adolescents

There has been increased research examining the psychometric properties on the Internet Addiction Test across different ages and populations. This population-based study examined the psychometric properties using Confirmatory Factory Analysis and measurement invariance using Item Response Theory (IRT) of the IAT in adolescents from three Asian countries. In the Asian Adolescent Risk Behavior Survey (AARBS), 2,535 secondary school students (55.91% girls) in Grade 7 to Grade 13 (Mean age = 15.61 years; SD=1.56) from Hong Kong (n=844), Japan (n=744), and Malaysia (n=947) completed a survey on their Internet use that incorporated the IAT scale. A nested hierarchy of hypotheses concerning IAT cross-country invariance was tested using multi-group confirmatory factor analysis. Replicating past finding in Hong Kong adolescents, the construct of IAT is best represented by a second-order three-factor structure in Malaysian and Japanese adolescents. Configural, metric, scalar, and partial strict factorial invariance was established across the three samples. No cross-country differences on Internet addiction were detected at latent mean level. This study provided empirical support to the IAT as a reliable and factorially stable instrument, and valid to be used across Asian adolescent populations

An exploratory study on internet addiction, somatic symptoms and emotional and behavioral functioning in school-aged adolescents

Objective: In the last two decades there has been a significant transformation regarding the use of new technologies. Despite growing acknowledgement concerning the different activities and functions of digital technologies, there remains a lack of understanding on how technology overuse may negatively impact both physical and psychosocial well-being. Although researchers have begun to explore the meaning and implications of excessive Internet use in non-clinical populations of children and adolescents, there is still little consistent knowledge on the topic. This study aimed to extend existing knowledge on the excessive use of the Internet among school-aged adolescents, focusing on its association with recurrent somatic symptoms, depressive risk and behavioral and emotional problems. Method: Two hundred and forty adolescents (51.9% females) aged between 10 and 15, participated in this study. Data was collected using the Children’s Somatization Inventory, the Internet Addiction Test, the Children’s Depression Inventory, the Youth Self Report and the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. Structural Equation Model analysis was used to analyse the data. Results: Approximately 21.8% of participants reported excessive Internet use based on Young’s criteria. Higher levels of Internet use were associated with somatic and depressive symptoms as well as emotional and behavioral problems. Depressive Symptoms predicted both Internet Addiction (b = 0.304, p < 0.001) and Internalizing (b = 0.542, p <0.001) and Externalizing problems (b = 0.484, p < 0.001). Internet Addiction also significantly predicted both Internalizing (b = 0.162, p = 0.02) and Externalizing problems (b = 0.183, p = 0.02). Finally, Structural Equation Modeling showed that the indirect effect of Depressive Symptoms (via Internet Addiction) on Internalizing or Externalizing problems were significant. Conclusions: Longitudinal studies are needed to confirm these findings and to identify the mechanisms linking Internet use, somatic symptoms and adaptive functioning

Problematic Internet Use among adolescents and young adults: a systematic review of scholars’ conceptualisations after the publication of DSM5

none2noScholars’ opinions vary considerably regarding many different aspects of Problematic Internet Use (PIU), including whether it should be conceptualised as an addiction, whether it has to be seen as a discrete category or as the pole of a “normal” to pathological continuum, and whether and how the relationship between a person’s characteristics and socio-cultural environment needs to be considered. The aim of the present study is to qualitatively review the evolving body of literature on PIU among adolescents in relation to the three above-mentioned issues, in order to examine how far existing research has progressed since the publication of DSM-5. Following PRISMA guidelines, studies from 2014 to 2019 identified by a search on SCOPUS and Google Scholar were collected. The PIU conceptualisations employed in studies among adolescents and young adults were analysed. Results showed that the debate on PIU as a form of addiction or a distinct clinical disorder is far from over; nonetheless, in the scientific literature about PIU among adolescents and young adults the idea of Internet use as a way to compensate for unsatisfied needs is growing, calling for a better appreciation of what happens in the life-contexts to explain how youths move to/away from PIU over timeopenLucrezia Ferrante; Claudia VenuleoFerrante, Lucrezia; Venuleo, Claudi

Psychometric property and measurement invariance of internet addiction test: the effect of socio-demographic and internet use variables

Background: According to the validation literature on items of Young’s Internet Addiction Test (IAT), this study rephrased disputable items to improve the psychometric properties of this Chinese version of IAT and identify the presence of differential item function (DIF) among demographic and Internet use factors, detect the effect of demographic and Internet use factors on IAT after adjusting for DIF. Methods: An online questionnaire was distributed to college students in Zhe Jiang province in two stage. The 1st phase study collected 384 valid responses to examine the quality of IAT items by using Rasch Model analysis and exploring factor analysis (EFA). The online questionnaire was modified according to the 1st phase study and distributed online for the 2nd phase study which collected a total of 1131 valid responses. The 2nd phase study applied confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and a multiple indicator multiple causes (MIMIC) model to verify the construct of IAT, potential effect of covariates on IAT latent factors, as well as the effect of differential item functioning (DIF). Results: Rasch model analysis in the 1st phase study indicated a 5-point rating scale was performed better, no sever misfit was found on item. The overall property of Chinese version IAT with the 5-point scale was good to excellent person and item separation (2.66 and 6.86). A three-factor model was identified by EFA. In the 2nd phase study, IAT 13 were detected with DIF for gender in MIMIC model. After correcting DIF effect, the significant demographic and Internet use factors on IAT were time spent online per day, year 3, year 2, general users. Conclusion: Item improvement was efficient that the problematic items found in literature was performed good in this study. The overall psychometric property of this Chinese version IAT was good with limited DIF effect in one item. Item improvement on IAT13 was encouraged in the future study to avoid gender bias and benefit for epidemiology on PIU

Socio-demographic and mental health correlates of internet addiction amongst Hong Kong university students under COVID-19

IntroductionRegarding the problem of Internet addiction (IA) amongst university students under the pandemic, there are several research gaps. Firstly, few studies have examined IA of university students in Hong Kong, which is a Chinese society heavily influenced by Western values. In addition, findings on the socio-demographic correlates and psychological well-being predictors of IA in university students are unclear. Finally, researchers have not systematically examined the interaction effects of socio-demographic factors (particularly gender and personal infection of COVID-19) and psychological morbidity on IA. This pioneer study aimed to investigate the predictive role of socio-demographic factors and psychological morbidity in IA, and the moderating effects of gender and personal infection of COVID-19 on the relationship between psychological morbidity and IA.MethodsWe conducted an online survey (N = 1,020 university students) during the ending phase of Wave 5 of the pandemic in Hong Kong (late 2022 to early 2023). Socio-demographic correlates included age, gender, living status, personal and family financial situation, student status, personal and family infection of COVID-19. Participants responded to validated measures of psychological morbidity, including depression, suicidal behavior, and hopelessness. Hierarchical regression and simple slope analyses were used to examine the predictive role of socio-demographic variables and psychological morbidity in IA and the interactive effect of gender and personal infection of COVID-19 with psychological morbidity on IA.ResultsPersonal financial difficulty was a significant socio-demographic predictor of IA. Depression, suicidal behavior, and hopelessness positively predicted IA. We also found a significant interaction effect of gender and psychological morbidity on IA. While the predictive relationship between depression and IA was stronger in males than in females, hopelessness was more strongly related to IA in females than in males. Finally, there was a significant interaction effect of personal infection of COVID-19 and suicidal behavior on IA.ConclusionPersonal financial difficulty was a socio-economic correlate of IA. Psychological morbidity also predicted IA. Gender and personal infection of COVID-19 moderated the linkage between psychological morbidity and IA. The findings of the study enhance our understanding of individual differences in IA in university students during the pandemic, particularly concerning different ecological risk factors

Reality of the internet and social media addiction in Indonesian students

The use of the Internet and social media today is inseparable from the life of modern society. This can lead to an addiction to the Internet and social media. This research aims to answer whether the phenomenon of Internet and social media addiction is a scientific reality or not in Indonesia, especially in Indonesian Students who are undergoing adaptation of the learning process from offline to online due to the Covid-19 pandemic situation. Data collection was conducted with a survey of 2002 respondents. Before the questionnaire was distributed, a validity test and reliability test with Alpha Cronbach's were conducted, and the results showed that all questions on the questionnaire were valid and reliable. Based on the survey results, 20.18% of respondents experienced mild addiction, 4.85% of respondents experienced moderate addiction, and 0.45% of respondents experienced severe addiction to Internets. While the survey results for social media addiction were 14.99% of respondents experienced mild addiction, 4.7% of respondents experienced moderate addiction, and 0.45% of respondents experienced severe addiction. Judging by the philosophy of science, Internet and Social Media Addiction are said to be science and not pseudoscience because it has fulfilled the characteristics of science that is logical, empirical, and can be falsified. There needs to be special attention from the Indonesians about the addiction to the Internet and social media so that this addiction can be anticipated and the inflicted symptoms can be minimized

Motivations for social media use in adolescents and their association with mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic

Aims: This study sought to explore associations between adolescents’ motivations for social media use and common mental health symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: British secondary school students aged 11-17 (N = 162) completed an online questionnaire covering demographics, social media use including motivations for use, and symptoms of depression, generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) and social anxiety. Multiple linear regression was used to explore associations between individual use motive and mental health symptoms scores in social media users (N = 142). In addition, latent profile analysis (LPA) was used to categorise users into homogenous profiles based on their pattern of use motives, and multinomial logistic regression used to explore associations between extracted profiles and symptoms scores. Results: Motivation to use social media for entertainment predicted higher symptom scores across all three mental health categories: depression (β = 1.41, 95% CI [0.75, 2.06], p < .001), GAD (β = 0.96, 95% CI [0.46, 1.45], p < .001) and social anxiety (β = 1.69, 95% CI [0.98, 2.41], p < .001). In addition, motivation to follow/monitor others on social media was associated with higher symptoms of social anxiety (β = 0.90, 95% CI [0.29, 1.50], p = .004). Finally, the LPA identified four distinct social media motivation profiles, which were labelled high-motivation-dating, high-motivation-social, low motivation and intermediate motivation. Greater levels of social anxiety predicted membership to both high motivation profiles compared to the low motivation profile: high-motivation-dating (RRR = 1.19, 95% CI [1.05, 1.35], p = .006) and high-motivation-social (RRR = 1.17, 95% CI [1.06, 1.29], p = .002). Conclusions: The findings suggest that elevated social media use for the purpose of entertainment may be a trans-diagnostic / general feature of common mental health difficulties in adolescence. Furthermore, social anxiety may be a driver and/or consequence of motivation to use social media for entertainment and to fulfil interpersonal motives (e.g. following others). These findings have potential implications for the development of interventions aimed to modify adolescents’ relationship with social media, and/or the identification of individuals who may be at higher risk of developing mental health difficulties. However, future longitudinal research is needed to identify the underlying direction of causality

Influence of psychological, internet use and demographic factors on pathological internet use among university students

The purpose of this study was to identify the prevalence of Pathological Internet Use (PIU), to test the hypothesized structural model of Pathological Internet Use (PIU) and explore the relationship between cognitive distortion, depression, motivation, loneliness, stressful life events, and PIU. A total of 1493 undergraduate students from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) were selected as respondents of this study. The results of this study showed an overall prevalence of PIU was 1.2% and there was no significant difference across groups (Massively multiplayer online role-playing game known as MMORPG, Social Networking Sites known as SNS, and general). The structural model of PIU demonstrated a good fit and all the variables were identified as significant predictors of PIU. Cognitive distortion was identified as the most significant predictor influencing PIU (Beta=0.47, p<0.01), and was confirmed as the most significant mediator between motivation (Beta=0.45, p<0.01), stressful life events (Beta=0.15, p<0.01), depression (Beta=0.39, p<0.01) and PIU. Motivation was found as the second significant predictor directly influencing PIU (Beta=0.35, p<0.01), while stressful life events was the lowest significant predictor directly influencing PIU (Beta=0.10, p<0.01). All the three factors contributed 65% variance of PIU. Besides this, depression was identified as the second significant mediator fully mediating the effect of loneliness on cognitive distortion (Beta=0.71, p<0.01) and partially mediating the effect of stressful life events on cognitive distortion (Beta=0.22, p<0.01). The multi-group analysis was applied to test the moderating effect of Internet use group (MMORPG, SNS, general) on the structural model. The result confirmed the invariance of the structural model across groups. The discussions of results were based on cognitive-behavioral model and previous literatures related PIU. It is recommended to conduct research on pathological Internet use (PIU) among university students as it can identify the status of their Internet use

Educational expectations and suicide risk among university students in the western Pacific

Izzat investigated the link between educational expectations and suicide ideation among students in higher education. He argues that a student autonomy is key in determining whether high educational expectations leads to positive or negative psychological outcomes. His findings expands suicide research among youths and informs suicide prevention efforts

Internet and Smartphone Use-Related Addiction Health Problems: Treatment, Education and Research

This Special Issue presents some of the main emerging research on technological topics of health and education approaches to Internet use-related problems, before and during the beginning of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The objective is to provide an overview to facilitate a comprehensive and practical approach to these new trends to promote research, interventions, education, and prevention. It contains 40 papers, four reviews and thirty-five empirical papers and an editorial introducing everything in a rapid review format. Overall, the empirical ones are of a relational type, associating specific behavioral addictive problems with individual factors, and a few with contextual factors, generally in adult populations. Many have adapted scales to measure these problems, and a few cover experiments and mixed methods studies. The reviews tend to be about the concepts and measures of these problems, intervention options, and prevention. In summary, it seems that these are a global culture trend impacting health and educational domains. Internet use-related addiction problems have emerged in almost all societies, and strategies to cope with them are under development to offer solutions to these contemporary challenges, especially during the pandemic situation that has highlighted the global health problems that we have, and how to holistically tackle them