ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study is to investigate the relations of internet addiction to sociodemographic characteristics and emotional and behavioral problems of adolescents in Korea. METHODS: We assessed 1432 middle school students in the city of Osan, Korea. We administered a self-reported questionnaire including sociodemographic data, Korean versions of Internet Addiction Scale (K-IAS) and Youth Self Report (K-YSR). All the students were divided into 3 groups (internet addiction group, overuser group and normal control group) according to the scores of K-IAS. Chi-square and one-way ANOVA were used to compare the 3 groups. After the correlations among each sociodemographic characteristics and emotional and behavioral problems were performed, the multiple regression analysis was conducted to identify the predictable factors of internet addiction tendency. RESULTS: There were significant differences among 3 groups in the gender, age, cigarette smoking, alcohol use and the age of initial internet use. The addiction group (K-IAS> or =70, N=32) had significantly higher rate of males, older students, cigarette smoking, alcohol use and earlier starting age of internet use than the control group (K-IAS<40, N=881). And the mean scores of all scales except somatic complaints subscale of K-YSR showed in the order of addiction group, overuser group, than control group. In the somatic complaints subscale, addiction group had significantly higher mean scores than other 2 groups but there was no difference between overuser group and control group. Multiple regression analysis showed that attention problems, male, delinquent behavior, aggressive behavior, withdrawn and the age of initial internet use could explain 29.6% of internet addiction tendency. CONCLUSION: These results suggested that the earlier familial education and environmental intervention of internet use would be helpful to prevent internet addiction. Attention problems, male and delinquent behavior, aggressive behavior and withdrawn were predictable factors of internet addiction, and this is well compatible with more male prevalence in ADHD and disruptive behavior disorders. This suggested that the intervention focused on the gender difference to prevent and treat internet addiction could be effective.