Internet Addiction among Brazilian Students in Japan - A Questionnaire-based Cross-sectional Study / 日本プライマリ・ケア連合学会誌

ABSTRACT

Introduction: To elucidate the issues surrounding adolescents' Internet use in social minority groups, this study investigated the current situation of Internet addiction among Brazilian students who live in A city in Japan.Methods: The participants were 342 local Brazilian students attending international schools. A cross-sectional study using a self-administered questionnaire in Brazilian-Portuguese was conducted. As a primary outcome, we used Young's Internet Addiction Test (IAT) to evaluate the level of self-reported Internet addiction. Social demographics (i.e. age, sex, etc. ), lifestyle (i.e. the time for Internet use, sleeping hours, etc. ), and depressive tendency (Patient Health Questionnaire 2, PHQ2) were also assessed. The χ-square test and logistic regression analysis were used for analysis.Results: The response rate was 65% (222; 111 males and 111 females). Factors related to an IAT score of 50 or higher were sleeping hours (<7.5 hours) (OR 0.38, 95%CI 0.21-0.68), the time for Internet use (≥4 hours) (2.6, 1.4-4.8), and PHQ2 score (≥3) (6.2, 3.3-11.5). On logistic regression analysis, an IAT score ≥50 was positively associated with the time for Internet use and PHQ2 score ≥3.Conclusion: The self-report of high Internet addiction among Brazilian students in A city in Japan was significantly related to the time for Internet use and depressive tendency.