Depression, Anxiety, and 'Unwillingness to Communicate' Disposition Related to Addictive Use of Internet in PC-bang Users.
- Author:
Jun Su KIM
1
;
Jin Mu CHO
;
Yun Mi SONG
;
Jung Kwon LEE
Author Information
1. Department of Family Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Korea. ymsong@smc.samsung.co.kr
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
internet addiction;
depression;
anxiety;
communication;
reward
- MeSH:
Anxiety*;
Demography;
Depression*;
Humans;
Internet*;
Male;
Mass Screening;
Prevalence;
Psychology;
Reward
- From:Journal of the Korean Academy of Family Medicine
2004;25(6):455-461
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
BACKGROUND: Nowadays the addictive use of internet is becoming a serious social and health problem. The authors performed a study in PC bang users to evaluate the prevalence of addictive internet use and the association between addictive internet use and behavioral and psychological factors. METHODS: A face-to-face interview survey of 900 Korean internet users at six PC-bangs was performed between 11th and 19th of December, 2002, using standardized questionnaires composed of Young's internet addiction scale, scale of unwillingness to communicate, patient problem questionnaire for screening depression and anxiety, and questions asking internet using patterns and socio- demographic factors. RESULTS: Of the final 888 participants, 3.4% were identified as addictive users and 41.3% as over-users of internet service. The subjects who were male, unemployed, less educated, using internet mainly at PC bang, using internet more frequently, starting or finishing off internet use usually in the morning, using internet service usually for doing games tended to be more addictive users of internet (P<0.05). In proportional odds model analysis, increasing duration of internet use (OR=1.22; 95% CI, 1.16~1.30), daily use of internet (OR=2.06; 95% CI, 1.21~3.51), finishing off internet use between midnight and 6 a.m. (OR=2.00; 95% CI, 1.30~3.07), anxiety (OR=5.38; 95% CI, 2.86~10.1), and increasing approach avoidance (OR=1.05; 95% CI, 1.03~1.08) were significantly associated with a higher degree of internet addiction. CONCLUSION: Addictive use of internet should be suspected in a person who uses internet for long time, daily, and over midnight. An active evaluation and management for anxiety are needed among addictive internet users.
