Internet Addiction Among College Students in China: Prevalence and Psychosocial Correlates

Abstract

This study examined the prevalence of Internet addiction among college students in China and explored the correlations between Internet addiction and psychosocial factors. A total of 1,173 Chinese college students (62.1 percent males, M_age = 19.65 years) were invited to complete a questionnaire containing measures of demographic characteristics, psychosocial correlates, including the quality of the parent–child relationship, propensity for depression, and psychosocial competence, and Internet addictive behaviors. Among the participating students, 15.2 percent were classified as having Internet addiction. Furthermore, students who reported poorer parent–child relationships, higher levels of depression, and lower levels of psychosocial competence were more likely to report behaviors indicative of Internet addiction. Internet addiction was prevalent among college students in China. The significant predictors of Internet addiction were found to include the quality of the family environment (i.e., the quality of the parent–child relationship), personal mental health status (i.e., the existence of depression), and the level of developmental assets (i.e., psychosocial competence). These findings suggest that improving the quality of family life and promoting psychosocial competence among youth can be promising approaches for preventing or/and reducing Internet addiction among college students in China.

Introduction

Over the past two decades, the Internet has facilitated many aspects of our lives. However, it has also brought about a serious public health problem: Internet addiction, characterized by “an individual's unregulated use of the Internet which leads to the development of symptoms such as cognitive and behavioral preoccupation with the Internet” (p. 295).¹ Compared with other segments of society, youths are more vulnerable to Internet addiction as they have easier access to the Internet, are physically unstable in the growing period, and prefer to pursue relationships through online actitivies.² A large amount of research has demonstrated that Internet addiction may adversely influence youths' physical health (e.g., inappropriate or poor quality diets), academic achievement, and emotional and social functioning (e.g., depression).^3–5 Despite numerous studies on Internet addiction, empirical research conducted on Internet addiction among Chinese adolescent students, especially college students, has been insufficient. Data from the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), as of November 02, 2014, showed that 649 million people had gone online, of which one-fourth were school and college students.⁶ With this soaring number of Internet users, the problem of youth Internet addiction has attracted high attention from scholars and practitioners. Studies are urged to investigate the prevalence and correlates of youth Internet addiction in China. A careful assessment of prevalence, risk, and protective factors of Internet addiction is essential for prevention and protective intervention programs. As such, this study attempted to investigate the prevalence and psychosocial correlates of Internet addiction among Chinese college students.

The prevalence of Internet addiction has been found to vary considerably among countries. One review study found that the prevalence of problematic Internet use ranged from 0 percent to 26.3 percent among adolescents and college students in the United States.⁷ Another review study showed the prevalence of pathological Internet use (PIU) to be 4.4 percent across 11 European countries.⁸ In Iran, Hashemian et al. found that 19.4 percent of high school students reported having Internet addiction.⁹ In terms of research conducted in Asia, Kim et al. demonstrated that the prevalence of Internet addiction was 1.6 percent among high school students in Korea.¹⁰ A study by Lin et al. of 3,616 college students in Taiwan showed that the prevalence of Internet addiction in this population was 15.3 percent.¹¹ Out of a large representative sample of 17,599 high school students in China, Cao et al. found that ∼8.1 percent of the students showed PIU symptoms.¹²

While studies on the prevalence of Internet addiction have been increasing, some research gaps remain. First, many studies have utilized self-designed Internet addiction questionnaires, such as the 40-item Chinese language inventory of Internet-related addictive behaviors designed by researchers in Taiwan,¹³ which may result in inconsistent reporting on prevalence. Second, different studies have adopted different cutoff scores and diagnostic criteria (e.g., Young's 10-item Internet Addiction Test [IAT] used a cutoff score of at least 4 out of 10 symptoms).¹⁴ Third, some prevalence studies have been based on small samples (e.g., samples from one or two universities) or convenience sampling, which may make it difficult to accurately assess the prevalence of Internet addiction.

Fourth, among the few studies conducted in China, most have focused on adolescents in middle or high school and have paid little attention to college students.¹² Researchers have highlighted that use of Internet is enormous in Chinese youth, and college students should be of particular concern due to their developmental needs, such as their need to develop a sense of identity and meaningful relationships, and the Internet-accessible environments they inhabit, which provide easy access to personal computers and campus computer laboratories.¹⁵ Therefore, Chinese governments have made a strong appeal expressing concern about college students' Internet use.¹⁶ These gaps indicate a need for methodologically sound research that adopts a widely used measure and includes a more representative sample to shed light on the pattern of Internet usage among Chinese college students.

In addition to the prevalence of Internet addiction, researchers have also shown interest in the factors associated with Internet addiction. According to an ecological risk/protective theory, as youth grow and reach their developmental competencies, there are psychosocial variables that promote or hinder the process. These are frequently referred to as psychosocial risk and protective factors.¹⁷ Regarding psychosocial risk factors, an individual's psychosocial vulnerability (i.e., depression) has frequently been found to be related to Internet addiction. Among factors of psychosocial vulnerability, the relationship between depression and Internet addiction has attracted increasing attention.^18,19 Scholars have noted that depressive disorders play a role in the development of Internet addiction. Empirical evidence has shown that symptoms of depression are strongly correlated with problematic Internet use, and depressed individuals are more likely to report having Internet addiction than nondepressed individuals.²⁰ In the present study, it was hypothesized that levels of depression among participants would be positively associated with levels of Internet addiction (Hypothesis 1).

Among the psychosocial protective factors related to Internet addiction, two of them are of central interest. One is parent–child relationship and the other is youth's psychosocial competence. Samek et al. suggested that a positive parent–child relationship could serve as an important preventive factor against problem behaviors in adolescents, including Internet addiction.²¹ Previous studies have consistently found that a high-quality parent–child relationship significantly predicted lower levels of youth Internet addiction.²² However, individuals reporting dysfunctional communication and exhibiting higher rates of conflict with parents displayed higher levels of problematic Internet use.²³ As such, it was expected that the quality of the parent–child relationship would be negatively correlated with the level of Internet addiction among Chinese college students (Hypothesis 2).

In addition to parent–child relationship, adaptive psychosocial functioning can also serve as a protective factor that reduces the likelihood of Internet addiction. Empirical studies have associated a high level of psychosocial competence (e.g., emotional, cognitive, and social competence, as well as resilience) and better bonding with parents or peers with a lower level of Internet addiction among adolescents.^24–27 However, several recent studies have reported inconsistent findings that positively associate psychosocial competence with problem behaviors.²⁸ Based on the existing research, we examined these associations using a sample of Chinese college students and hypothesized that psychosocial competence would have a negative correlation with Internet addiction (Hypothesis 3).

Against this background of previous research, the present study had two main objectives. First, it sought to explore the prevalence of Internet addiction among Chinese college students. Second, the study aimed to examine three psychosocial factors (quality of the parent–child relationship, existence of depression, and level of psychosocial competence), when controlling demographic predictive factors (age, gender, type of education program, level of parental educational attainment, family income, and family intactness), in relation to Internet addiction.

Methods

Participants

Data for the present study were collected in late 2015 in Hefei, the capital of Anhui Province, a typical mid-sized city in Eastern China with a GDP ranking of 31st among 355 cities nationwide. Hefei has 9 universities (i.e., 4-year education program) and 29 colleges (i.e., 3-year education program) that cover a wide range of disciplines, including science, engineering, education, law, and literature. From among these tertiary institutions, four universities and four colleges with different quality rankings were randomly selected for the recruitment of the study sample. Sixteen university classes and 12 college classes were selected from these eight institutions. Specifically, one class was sampled from each grade level at each college or university. All students in the selected classes (N = 1,400) were invited to participate in this study, and students who agreed to be participants signed consent forms before the questionnaire was administered. In total, 1,172 students completed the questionnaire (83.7 percent response rate). The sample consisted of 531 (45.3 percent) college students and 642 (54.7 percent) university students. It included 728 males (62.1 percent) and 445 females (37.9 percent), who had a mean age of 19.65 years (SD = 1.15). Further demographic information about the participants is summarized in Table 1.

Table 1.

Sociodemographic Characteristics of the Study Participants

	N (%)
Gender
Male	728 (62.1)
Female	445 (37.9)
Education program
3-year	531 (45.3)
4-year	642 (54.7)
Father education
Low (less than or middle school)	796 (67.8)
Middle (high school or college)	301 (25.6)
High (more than or university)	76 (6.5)
Mother education
Low (less than or middle school)	927 (79.0)
Middle (high school or college)	187 (16.0)
High (more than or university)	59 (5.0)
Per capita monthly income in family (RMB)
<2,000	588 (50.1)
2,000–3,999	453 (38.7)
≥4,000	132 (11.2)
Family intactness
Intactness	1,062 (90.6)
Nonintactness	111 (9.4)

Gender: 0 = male, 1 = female; education program: 0 = 3-year program, 1 = 4-year program; educational attainment: 1 = Low (i.e., middle school or lower), 2 = Middle (i.e., high school or college), 3 = High (i.e., university or higher); families' per capita monthly income (RMB): 1 ≤ 2,000, 2 = 2,000–3,999, 3 ≥ 4,000; family intactness: 0 = intactness, 1 = nonintactness.

Procedure

The survey was administered in classroom settings with standardized instructions provided by the first author and four trained research assistants from the local area. At the start of each questionnaire session, the first author introduced the purpose of the study. The students were instructed to sit apart from one another, to keep their eyes on their own questionnaires, and to refrain from discussing any of the questions with other students during the survey. The first author and the research assistants were present throughout the administration of the questionnaire to answer possible questions from participants. No teachers or other university staff were present. Students were encouraged to answer the questions honestly and were assured repeatedly that their results would be analyzed in an aggregated manner, with personal information kept strictly confidential. The study and data collection received approval from the administration committees of the surveyed colleges and universities and from the Human Research Ethics Committee of Shenzhen University.

Measures

Internet addiction

To assess participants' levels of Internet addiction, we used Young's 10-item IAT,²⁹ which is one of the most widely utilized diagnostic instruments for determining Internet addiction. The 10-item IAT was translated into Chinese and validated for the Chinese context by Li et al.³⁰ The scale asked participants to answer “yes” or “no” to indicate whether they had experienced the listed symptoms of Internet addiction during the previous year (e.g., “Do you feel a need to spend more and more time online to achieve satisfaction?” and “Do you go through withdrawal symptoms when offline, such as feeling increased depression, moodiness, or irritability?”). Participants who identified with four or more of the listed behaviors were classified as having Internet addiction. The scale was found in prior studies to have good psychometric properties.³¹ Cronbach's alpha for the present study was 0.72.

Psychosocial correlates

Parent–child relationship

A self-developed, three-item parent–child relationship questionnaire was used to assess the students' perceptions of their relationships with their parents (i.e., “I am satisfied with my relationship with my parents,” “I take the initiative in telling my parents about things that happen to me,” and “I take the initiative to share my feelings with my parents”). Respondents answered each item using a Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 4 = strongly agree). The scale had sound construct validity (intercorrelations ranged from 0.29 to 0.54, p < 0.01; factor loadings in the exploratory factor analysis ranged from 0.67 to 0.84) and acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.66). Further means and standard deviations for participants' parent–child relationship questionnaire are shown in Table 2.

Table 2.

Means and Standard Deviations for Parent–Child Relationship, Psychosocial Competence, and Depression

	M	SD
Parent–child relationship	3.11	0.56
Depression	14.72	11.19
Psychosocial competence	4.46	0.67

Psychosocial competence

We adapted subscales from an existing Chinese version of the Positive Youth Development Scale (CPYDS) to assess participants' psychosocial competence.^32,33 Each subscale included three items. The subscales were designed to measure resilience (e.g., “When I face difficulty, I do not give up easily”), social competence (e.g., “I can take the initiative to talk to a stranger”), emotional competence (e.g., “When I am angry, I can describe my feelings rationally”), moral competence (e.g., “I will not do anything that is unfair to others”), and self-determination (e.g., “I am able to make wise choices”). Participants answered the items using a six-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 6 = strongly agree). The CPYDS was found in prior research to have good psychometric properties.^34,35 As for the psychological competence scale used in this study, item-total correlations ranged from 0.47 to 0.66 and Cronbach's alpha coefficients ranged from 0.74 to 0.88 across the five subscales and in the Global Psychological Competence Scale. These indicated sound construct validity and adequate internal consistency. Global psychological competence was reflected by the mean scores across the five subscales, with higher scores indicating higher levels of psychosocial competence. Further means and standard deviations for participants' psychosocial competence questionnaire are shown in Table 2.

Depression

The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) Scale was used to measure participants' symptoms of depression and to detect people at risk of experiencing a depressive disorder. The 20-item CES-D asked participants to respond using a four-point Likert scale (0 = rarely or none of the time, 3 = most or all of the time) indicating how often they had experienced the listed symptoms of depression in the previous week. The sum of the response scores ranged from 0 to 60, where higher scores indicated more severe levels of depression. Participants who scored <16 were classified as nondepressed, and those who scored 16 or higher (CES-D ≥16) were classified as depressed.³⁶ Prior studies have shown that the CES-D has good psychometric properties.³⁷ The Cronbach's alpha of CES-D scores for the present study was 0.86, which indicated good internal consistency. Further means and standard deviations for participants' depression scale are shown in Table 2.

Statistical analyses

First, frequencies and percentages were computed for the variables of gender, type of education program, parents' education, family income, family intactness, and level of Internet addiction (Tables 1 and 3). Means and standard deviations were computed for the variables of quality of the parent–child relationship, psychological competence, and level of depression (Table 2). Second, to explore how participants' psychosocial factors were associated with their reported levels of Internet addiction, a hierarchical regression analysis was performed. In this analysis, participants' demographic characteristics were placed in the first regression step as controlled variables. Next, participants' psychosocial correlates were placed in the second regression step. The quality of the parent–child relationship, level of depression, and psychosocial competence were treated as the independent variables, and the level of Internet addiction reported by participants was considered the dependent variable. All ordinal and continuous independent variables were standardized through z-transformation. Categorical variables were dummy-coded as 0 and 1. All analyses were performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) for Windows, version 22.0. The statistical significance was set at p < 0.05 (two tailed) in the interpretation of the results.

Table 3.

Frequency of Internet Addiction in the Past 1 Year

	Yes N (%)
1. Do you feel preoccupied with the Internet or online services and think about it while offline?	95 (8.1)
2. Do you feel a need to spend more and more time online to achieve satisfaction?	114 (9.7)
3. Are you unable to control your online use?	250 (21.3)
4. Do you feel restless or irritable when attempting to cut down or stop online use	107 (9.1)
5. Do you go online to escape problems or relieve feelings, such as helplessness, guilt, anxiety or depression?	153 (13.0)
6. Do you lie to family members or friends to conceal excessive Internet use?	293 (25.0)
7. Do you risk the loss of a significant relationship, job, or educational or career opportunity because of online use?	185 (15.8)
8. Do you keep returning even after spending too much money on online fees?	137 (11.7)
9. Do you go through withdrawal when offline, such as increased depression, moodiness, or irritability?	105 (9.0)
10. Do you stay online longer than originally intended?	306 (26.1)
Participants could be considered as Internet addicted (Young's criteria)	178 (15.2)

Results

Prevalence of Internet addiction

Two observations can be made about participants' Internet addiction as reflected in the frequencies and percentages shown in Table 3. First, based on Young's criteria, the prevalence of Internet addiction among the Chinese college students in our study was 15.2 percent, which indicated Internet addiction is not uncommon among Chinese college students. Second, the percentage of adolescents displaying problematic behaviors in Internet use ranged from 8.1 percent to 26.1 percent, depending on the specific type of behavior in question. For instance, more than one-fourth of the students agreed that they “stay online longer than originally intended” (26.1 percent). One-fourth of the participants reported that they “lie to family members or friends to conceal excessive Internet use” (25 percent), and more than one-fifth reported that they were “unable to control online use” (21.3 percent). Of the participants, 13.0 percent reported that they “go online to escape problems or relieve feelings, such as helplessness, guilt, anxiety, or depression,” which indicated possible mental health problems.

Correlates of Internet addiction

As can be seen in Table 4, after controlling for the effects of demographic characteristics, all investigated psychosocial correlates were significantly associated with Internet addiction. Specifically, poorer parent–child relationships (β = −0.13, p < 0.001), lower levels of psychosocial competence (β = −0.18, p < 0.001), and higher levels of depression (β = 0.24, p < 0.001) were found to predict a higher risk of Internet addiction. The overall explanatory power of these psychosocial correlates was 14.0 percent. The bivariate correlation information is presented in Table 5.

Table 4.

Multiple Linear Regression of Various Independent Variables on Depression

Independent variables	B	SE	β	t	ΔR²
Step 1					0.023^***
Demographics
Age	0.22	0.06	0.11	3.72^***
Gender	−0.15	0.15	−0.04	−1.03
Education program	−0.13	0.14	−0.03	−0.90
Father education	0.11	0.07	0.05	1.43
Mother education	−0.14	0.07	−0.07	−1.94
Family income	0.01	0.06	0.01	0.16
Family intactness	0.14	0.06	0.07	2.29^*
Step 2					0.140^***
Psychosocial competence
Parents–child relationship	−0.26	0.06	−0.14	−4.62^***
Depression	0.41	0.07	0.21	6.08^***
Psychosocial competence	−0.44	0.08	−0.18	−5.55^***

***

p < 0.001; ^**p < 0.01; ^*p < 0.05.

Table 5.

Bivariate Correlation Analysis of Various Independent Variables and Internet Addiction

	Age	Gender	Education program	Father education	Mother education	Family income	Family intactness	Parent–child relationship	Depression	Psychosocial competence
Internet addiction	0.16^**	−0.06^*	0.10^**	0.05	−0.02	0.04	0.15^**	−0.18^**	0.48^**	−0.25^**

p < 0.01; ^*p < 0.05.

Discussion

This study examined the prevalence of Internet addiction and the relationship between Internet addiction and multiple psychosocial correlates among college students in China. Using Young's criteria, the study found that 15.2 percent of participating students could be classified as Internet addicted. The results indicate that the prevalence of Internet addiction among Chinese college students is quite high. These findings are similar to those of studies conducted in other parts of Asia, such as in Taiwan (15.3 percent)¹¹ and Korea (14.8 percent)³⁸; however, the 15.2 percent prevalence of Internet addiction found in this study is higher than the figures reported by other researchers in China, such as Cao et al., who reported a rate of 8.1 percent,¹² and Liu et al., who reported a rate of 11 percent.³⁹ This may be due to differences in the recruited samples. While prior Chinese studies recruited middle and high school students, our study recruited college students. College students tend to have fewer academic tasks and less academic pressure than younger students, which renders them more likely to spend too much time online.

In addition, college students have greater psychological and developmental needs than middle and high school students, such as a stronger need to develop a sense of identity and engage in meaningful relationships, and these needs may drive them to access the Internet more frequently.¹⁵ The variations in results among studies may also be partially explained by their inconsistent use of Internet addiction scales, which has included Young's IAT, the Chen Internet Addiction Scale (CIAS), and self-designed Internet addiction questionnaires (e.g., the Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-Based Survey; the Adolescent Pathological Internet Use Scale).^38,40 However, IAT has its discriminative advantage, compared to other Internet addiction scales, regarding the individuals' use of the Internet, thoughts about the Internet, and issues due to Internet use, which made the finding relatively valid and valuable.³¹ Echoing prior research, this study suggests that Chinese college students may be particularly susceptible to problematic Internet use, and that it is highly important to prevent and work to remedy Internet addiction in this population.¹⁵

As predicted, this study found a positive correlation between depression and Internet addiction, which was consistent with prior research^18,20,41 and with our hypothesis (Hypothesis 1 supported), certain symptoms of depression (e.g., social isolation and negative self-perception) may cause an individual to prefer online social interaction to real-life interaction, as he/she may perceive that online interaction is less threatening. However, individuals with higher levels of depression may have less effective coping skills (e.g., seeking social support), which in turn could increase the likelihood of the negative outcomes associated with high Internet use (e.g., loneliness, poor self-control).⁴² Considering the close association between depression and Internet addiction, an evaluation for depression may be included in assessments of individuals suspected of Internet addiction to enhance the screening and treatment capabilities.

Furthermore, we found that students reporting poorer parent–child relationships showed higher initial levels of Internet addiction, which was in line with our expectations (Hypothesis 2 supported) as well as with the findings of prior studies.^1,23 Scholars have explained that children having poor relationships with parents tend to have lower levels of parental involvement and higher levels of parent–child conflict.⁴³ Youths living in maladaptive family environments and lacking in parent–child connectedness (e.g., support, warmth, and caring) may resort to the Internet to obtain social support and connection. However, a young person's overuse of the Internet may further dampen the parent–child relationship and the family atmosphere. A vicious cycle can thus develop between an adverse family environment and Internet addiction, which makes the problem of youth Internet addiction more difficult to solve.^1,5 Our findings indicate that family dynamics is an important factor related to youth Internet addiction, and promoting a good quality of family life may be a promising approach in preventing and reducing Internet addiction among Chinese college students.

Consistent with our expectations, a higher level of psychosocial competence predicted a lower probability of Internet addiction in our study (Hypothesis 3 supported). These findings suggest that promoting psychosocial competence (e.g., through developing positive youth development programs) may prevent Internet addiction among youth.⁴⁴ In fact, a number of empirical studies conducted in North America and in Hong Kong have found that positive youth development programs may promote adolescents' psychosocial competence and reduce problematic behaviors, including Internet addiction.^1,44 Future intervention studies should be conducted to promote psychosocial competence and reduce and/or prevent Internet addiction among Chinese college students.

This study had several limitations. First, its cross-sectional design prevented us from identifying cause-and-effect associations. For example, we could not determine whether depression increased behaviors related to Internet addiction or whether Internet addiction led to depression. It is also possible that there was a mutual influence between depression and Internet addiction. Future studies may utilize longitudinal methods to track a group of college students to examine the causal relationships between Internet addiction and the factors identified in the present study. Second, the nature of our self-reporting methodology may have also been a limitation. Due to social desirability, the participants may have underreported their addictive behaviors on the Internet. Using other research methods, such as qualitative interviews (e.g., one-on-one or in focus groups), could be useful. Third, although several interpersonal (i.e., the parent–child relationship) and intrapersonal (i.e., depression) correlates were examined in this study, prior research has shown that other interpersonal and intrapersonal factors, such as peer relationships and personality traits, are also significantly correlated with youth Internet addiction.^45,46 More relational and personal predictors may be examined in future research. Finally, the study only investigated prevalence and psychosocial correlates of Internet addiction among college students in China. Future study may examine Internet addiction (e.g., prevalence and psychosocial correlates) among other age groups, such as adolescents or middle aged group, and compare with college students' group.

Despite these limitations, this study examined the prevalence of Internet addiction and the relationships between Internet addiction and a variety of demographic and psychosocial factors based on data from a large randomly selected sample of college students in China. The study suggests that Internet addiction in Chinese college students is prevalent and that poor parent–child relationship, depression, and low psychological competence increase the likelihood of Internet addiction. The findings suggest that improving the family climate and promoting psychosocial competence in youth can help to prevent and/or reduce Internet addiction among Chinese college students.

Footnotes

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the Young Teacher Foundation supported by Humanity and Social Science of Shenzhen University (ID: 16NFC47) and the National Social Science Foundation (ID: 16CSH049) for supporting this study.

Author Disclosure Statement

No competing financial interests exist.

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