Clinical, gender and age aspects of the internet addiction

Aim. To study clinical, gender, and age-related aspects of Internet addiction.

Methods. The study includes 400 people related to computer technology, which was divided into 4 study groups by age and gender: 100 adolescents aged 14.1±0.6 years was in the first group, 100 professional computer engineers aged 30.6±4.2 years in the second group, 100 male students at the age of 22.3±3.6 years in the third group and 100 women students aged 22.1±3.1 years. Clinical-psychopathological and experimental psychological methods were used: interviewing, using a modified Internet Addiction Test (IAT) divided into three categories of questions by conditions. In the work, we used the data of a previous study with increasing of the sample and numbers of objectives.

Results. A study of the clinical features of Internet addiction revealed the presence of “Internet-related paranoiac reactions”, which was most in the second group (52.2±9.8), most rare in the first group (8.3±1.7), and equally in the third and the fourth groups (24.4±4.3 and 32.1±6.4). For the study of gender differences in Internet addiction, were included in the third and fourth groups. 48.7±3.6% of all included respondents preferred virtual communication to real, 46.3±3.1% had signs of Internet dependence on being in cyberspace, 30.8±2.4% there were deviations in the psycho-emotional sphere. Male was more likely to experience severe impairment of working capacity and a decrease in energy potential (45.6±3.8). Communication in social networks turned out to be more relevant for women (60.3±8.7). The study of the age-related aspect of Internet addiction was performed in the first group. It was revealed the presence of computer games addiction in 16.3±2.4% adolescents, addiction to the virtual communication in 48.2±3.9% adolescents, web surfing addiction in 10.4±1.7% adolescents, mixed forms of Internet addiction in 26.7±2.9% respondents and also correlation of Internet addiction with the level of intelligence of the adolescents.

Conclusion. A retrospective analysis of Internet addiction developmental dynamics showed alternation various forms of this addiction and the presence of age stages.