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Methods Participants

This document describes a study that examined internet use among college students. Researchers administered a questionnaire assessing social styles, preferences for therapy, criteria for internet abuse/dependence, internet usage, and depression. 411 undergraduate students participated. The questionnaire gathered demographic information and assessed socialization, therapy preferences, behaviors related to criteria for internet abuse/dependence, internet usage habits, and depression. Researchers recruited students from an introductory psychology course to complete paper or online versions of the questionnaire.

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54 views4 pages

Methods Participants

This document describes a study that examined internet use among college students. Researchers administered a questionnaire assessing social styles, preferences for therapy, criteria for internet abuse/dependence, internet usage, and depression. 411 undergraduate students participated. The questionnaire gathered demographic information and assessed socialization, therapy preferences, behaviors related to criteria for internet abuse/dependence, internet usage habits, and depression. Researchers recruited students from an introductory psychology course to complete paper or online versions of the questionnaire.

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deew
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© © All Rights Reserved
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In the present study, we examined Internet use among college students using a

questionnaire that we constructed primarily on the basis of the work of Scherer. Like Scherer, we
assessed social styles and preferences for the types of therapy one would choose if one were to
seek professional help for a problem, such as Internet dependence. Unlike Scherer, we modeled our
Internet abuse and dependence criteria after the DSM-IV-TR 16 criteria for substance abuse and
dependence. We considered participants to abuse the Internet if they endorsed 1 or more symptoms
supporting a maladaptive pattern of behavior that resulted in signifi cant impairment or distress
(e.g., failure to fulfill major roles, legal problems related to Internet use, continued use despite
problems). We also considered them Internet dependent if they endorsed 3 or more symptoms of
dependency (e.g., tolerance; withdrawal; being online for periods longer than intended; impairment
in social, occupational, or recreational activities because of Internet use). In a departure from the
previously cited studies, we gathered data via paper surveys and over a restricted-access Internet
site.

METHODS

Participants

We recruited 485 (55% female) undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory psychology


course at a large southeastern regional university. Of these, we deleted 74 from the final data set
because of incomplete questionnaires; these students did not differ from the fi nal sample on any
available demographic variables.

The final sample of 411 participants was 56% female, 91% Caucasian (4% African
American, 2% Asian American, and 2% Hispanic), and primarily (50%) from West Virginia
(Pennsylvania, 20%; Maryland, New Jersey, and Virginia, 6%7% each; and the remaining 11%
from 13 other states and 3 countries). Of the participants, 63.7% were freshmen; 22.6%,
sophomores; 9.8%, juniors, and 3.9%, seniors. On average, participants were aged 20.4 years (SD
= 3.2, range = 1856). Men were slightly older (M = 20.8 years, SD = 3.5) than were women (M =
20.1 years, SD = 2.9), t (406) = 2.0, p < .05.

Materials

Demographics. We included questions, pertaining to sex, race and ethnicity, year of birth, year in
college, and current state or country of permanent residence to describe the sample. Participants
also answered questions about social style and preferences for therapy. The fi rst item on social
style was about perceived sociability (1= very sociable, 2 = sociable, 3 = sociable, but shy or
introverted, 4 = not really sociable; somewhat of a loner); the second item was about contexts for
social interaction (1 = more face-to- face than on the Internet, 2 = equally face-to-face and on the
Internet, 3 = more on the Internet than face-to-face, 4 = seldom, I do not socialize much face-to-
face or online). We also assessed preferences for 7 therapy formats (from face-to-face with an
individual to online with a group) if one were to ever seek psychological treatment (eg, for Internet
abuse or dependence). Tables 1, 2, and 3 show all items and related rating scales.
The demographics questionnaire also contained 9 items to evaluate whether participants felt that
their use of the Internet interfered with their daily functioning; that is, did they meet criteria for
Internet abuse and dependence (on the basis of DSM-IV-TR criteria, as previously discussed).

TABLE 1 Ratings of Sociability


Social style %
I consider myself to be . . .
Very sociable 34
Sociable 46
Sociable but shy or introverted 19
Not really sociable; somewhat of a loner 1
I socialize . . .
More face-to-face than on the Internet 74
Equally face-to-face and on the Internet 23
More on the Internet than face-to-face 3
Seldom; I do not socialize much face-to-face or online I

TABLE 2 Preferences for Therapy

Preference for therapy M SD

Face-to-face with an individual

Face-to-face in a group Face-to-face in a workshop

Telephone hotline

E-mail hotline

Online with an individual

Online with a group

Note. Scales are scored as follows: 1 = very unlikely , 2 = somewhat likely ,

3 = unsure , 4 = somewhat likely , 5 = very likely .

Internet Use. The Internet Usage Questionnaire consisted of 17 items to determine how often the
participants accessed the Internet and for what purposes they did so. We constructed these items on
the basis of Scherers 4 work and scored them from 0 to 4 (0 = no; 1 = yes, at least once per year; 2
= yes, at least once per month; 3 = yes, at least once per week; 4 = yes, at least once per day). Table
4 shows the questionnaire items. We obtained a Cronbachs alpha of .62, indicating an acceptable
level of internal consistency for a short research survey with nonhomogenous items of this kind

Depression. The Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) is a 20-item
questionnaire that we used to identify the presence and severity of depressive symptomatology.
Higher scores on the measure indicate a higher frequency of occurrence of the symptoms, with a
score of 16 or more suggesting clinical cases of depression. The CES-D has high internal
consistency, moderate test-retest reliability, and concurrent and construct validity.

Procedure

We conducted this study, which the universitys institutional review board approved, as a portion of
a larger project 20 comparing the results of psychometric surveys completed.

TABLE 3 Reported Behaviors Related to Internet Abuse and Dependence

Behavior (matching DSM-IV criteria)

1. Behavior related to Internet abuse Failure to fulfi ll major responsibilities at work,


school, or home because of Internet use
2. Legal problems related to Internet use
3. Continued to use Internet despite recurrent social problems caused or increased by
Internet use
4. Behavior related to Internet dependence Developed tolerance symptoms, such as
increased Internet use to get the same desired feeling or a decrease in desired
feeling with the same amount of use
5. Experienced withdrawal symptoms in reaction to decreased Internet use that either
interrupted important areas of life functioning or led to use of a similar object to
relieve symptoms
6. Used Internet for longer periods than intended
7. Consistent desire to, or unsuccessful efforts to, cut down or control use of the
Internet
8. Social, occupational, or recreational activities reduced because of Internet use
9. Continued use of the Internet despite knowledge of having a psychological or
physical problem that is caused or worsened by use

Note. For abuse criterion 1 and dependence criteria 3 and 6, 1 = never , 2 = rarely , 3
=sometimes , 4 = often , 5 = very frequently . For criteria 2, 4, and 7, 1 5 definitely not , 2 =
somewhat , 3 = yes, definitely . DSM-IV = Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders , 4th ed.

via the Internet with those completed on paper. We entered participants into 1 of 2 conditions
(paper or Internet) on the basis of the data collection session they attended; participants were
unaware of the conditions prior to arrival. All participants completed informed consent
agreements. Those in the Paper Condition completed the survey on paper immediately; we gave
those assigned to the Internet Condition a slip of paper with the Web address to the restricted
study site (along with a user name and password), asked them to complete the questionnaire
within the next 24 hours, and dismissed them. Of the 411 participants in the fi nal sample, 211
completed the survey on paper (51%), and 200 completed it via the Internet (49%). Participants
in these 2 conditions did not differ on key demographic variables nor on the time they typically
spent accessing the Internet each day. After survey completion, participants received extra credit
for a course. (This research project was one of multiple opportunities for students to earn extra
credit in their courses.) All participants also received a list of referrals in the event

Frequency of Internet Access, by Reasons and Services


Variable reporting daily use
Reason for accessing
the Internet
Academic
Relationship maintenance
Social experimentation
Meeting people
Sexual material
Illegal/immoral purpose
Other
Service used
World Wide Web
Search
E-mail
Courses
Library
Newsgroup
Chat
Bulletin board
Shopping
Single-user game
Multiuser game
Other

Note . Scales are scored as follows: 0 = no use, 1 = once per year, 2 = once per month , 3 =
once per week , 4 = once per day .

that answering the questions led to psychological difficulties or if an individual wanted to follow
up with psychological services after participating in the research.

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