[Use and abuse of the Internet in university students]

Adicciones. 2008;20(2):131-42.
[Article in Spanish]

Abstract

Aim: To adapt a questionnaire for assessing the use and abuse of Internet, as well as the relationship between this resource and psychosocial profile in a group of university students.

Method: 391 students filled out the questionnaires; 26.1% were men and 73.9% were women, with a mean age of 19.59 years (DT = +/- 2.83; Range: 18-47 years). We used a sociodemographic questionnaire, Social skills questionnaire (Caballo, 1993, EMES-C and EMES-M), Personality questionnaire (E.P.I., Eysenck and Eysenck, 1982), and an Internet and Use and Abuse of Internet questionnaire (adapted from Bruner, 1997, Suler, 1996 and Young, 1996a, Garcia del Castillo y Terol, 2007).

Results: 73.91 % of students connect for an average of 84.81 minutes (DT = +/- 2.05) per week. Except for one subscale of the Internet use and abuse questionnaire, all the subscales showed reliability coefficients > or = . 70 and mean scores lower than the average of the score range. Internet use and abuse showed a relationship with psychosocial variables such as cognitive social skills (r =.14; p =.016) and neuroticism (r =.-13, p =.01).

Publication types

  • English Abstract

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Behavior, Addictive / diagnosis*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Internet*
  • Male
  • Students*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Universities*