Magali Dufour1, Natacha Brunelle2, Joel Tremblay2, Danielle Leclerc2, Marie-Marthe Cousineau3, Yasser Khazaal4, Andrée-Anne Légaré5, Michel Rousseau5, Djamal Berbiche5. 1. Service de toxicomanie, Université de Sherbrooke (Longueuil Campus), Longueuil, Quebec Magali.Dufour@usherbrooke.ca. 2. Department of Psychoeduation, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Quebec. 3. School of Criminology, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec. 4. Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland. 5. Service de toxicomanie, Université de Sherbrooke (Longueuil Campus), Longueuil, Quebec.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: There are presently no data available concerning Internet addiction (IA) problems among adolescents in Canada and the province of Quebec. The goal of this study is thus to document and compare the influence of gender on Internet use and addiction. METHOD: The study data were collected from a larger research project on gambling among adolescents. Activities conducted online (applications used and time spent) as well as answers to the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) were collected from 3938 adolescents from grades 9 to 11. The two most often employed cut-off points for the IAT in the literature were documented: (40-69 and 70+) and (50+). RESULTS: Boys spent significantly more time on the Internet than did girls. A greater proportion of the girls made intense use of social networks, whereas a greater proportion of the boys made intense use of massively multiplayer online role-playing games, online games, and adult sites. The proportion of adolescents with a potential IA problem varied according to the cut-off employed. When the cut-off was set at 70+, 1.3% of the adolescents were considered to have an IA, while 41.7% were seen to be at risk. At a 50+ cut-off, 18% of the adolescents were considered to have a problem. There was no significant difference between the genders concerning the proportion of adolescents considered to be at risk or presenting IA problems. Finally, analysis of the percentile ranks would seem to show that a cut-off of 50+ better describes the category of young people at risk. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study make it possible to document Internet use and IA in a large number of Quebec adolescents.
OBJECTIVES: There are presently no data available concerning Internet addiction (IA) problems among adolescents in Canada and the province of Quebec. The goal of this study is thus to document and compare the influence of gender on Internet use and addiction. METHOD: The study data were collected from a larger research project on gambling among adolescents. Activities conducted online (applications used and time spent) as well as answers to the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) were collected from 3938 adolescents from grades 9 to 11. The two most often employed cut-off points for the IAT in the literature were documented: (40-69 and 70+) and (50+). RESULTS:Boys spent significantly more time on the Internet than did girls. A greater proportion of the girls made intense use of social networks, whereas a greater proportion of the boys made intense use of massively multiplayer online role-playing games, online games, and adult sites. The proportion of adolescents with a potential IA problem varied according to the cut-off employed. When the cut-off was set at 70+, 1.3% of the adolescents were considered to have an IA, while 41.7% were seen to be at risk. At a 50+ cut-off, 18% of the adolescents were considered to have a problem. There was no significant difference between the genders concerning the proportion of adolescents considered to be at risk or presenting IA problems. Finally, analysis of the percentile ranks would seem to show that a cut-off of 50+ better describes the category of young people at risk. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study make it possible to document Internet use and IA in a large number of Quebec adolescents.
Authors: Corrado Villella; Giovanni Martinotti; Marco Di Nicola; Maria Cassano; Giuseppe La Torre; Maria Daniela Gliubizzi; Immacolata Messeri; Filippo Petruccelli; Pietro Bria; Luigi Janiri; Gianluigi Conte Journal: J Gambl Stud Date: 2011-06
Authors: Vasilis Stavropoulos; Baxter L M Adams; Charlotte L Beard; Emma Dumble; Steven Trawley; Rapson Gomez; Halley M Pontes Journal: Addict Behav Rep Date: 2019-01-02