How common is internet addiction in teenagers, and who is most at risk?

What is it about?

As internet access became widespread, concern grew about whether some young people were developing problematic, addictive patterns of use. This study assessed the prevalence of potential internet addiction and examined the interplay between personality traits and specific internet activities as risk factors, drawing on a sample of 3,105 Dutch adolescents who completed the Compulsive Internet Use Scale alongside the Quick Big Five personality measure. The study found that 3.7% of the sample met criteria for potential internet addiction. Use of online gaming and social applications, including social networking sites and Twitter, significantly increased the risk of internet addiction. Two personality traits, extraversion and conscientiousness, acted as protective factors among heavy online gamers, reducing their risk of addictive use patterns. The findings pointed to specific activities and individual characteristics that distinguish adolescents at elevated risk from those whose internet use, however frequent, does not become problematic.

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Why is it important?

At the time of publication, the evidence base on internet addiction in young people was rapidly expanding but poorly integrated, with prevalence estimates varying widely and little agreement on which characteristics distinguished addictive from non-addictive heavy use. This study used one of the largest adolescent samples in the literature to date and was among the first to examine specific internet applications, rather than overall usage time, as risk factors. The finding that personality traits moderate risk among heavy gamers has direct implications for identifying vulnerable adolescents and designing prevention programmes. The authors argued the findings supported the inclusion of internet addiction in diagnostic frameworks, contributing to debates that were live at the time around the DSM-5 and that ultimately led to the inclusion of internet gaming disorder as a condition requiring further study.

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