Assessing behavioral patterns of Internet addiction and drug abuse among high school students

Abstract

Background

Internet addiction and drug abuse isolate adolescents from their family and friends and cause damage to their health, relations, emotions, and spirit. In the society, adolescents’ addiction extracts high cost on health care, educational failure and mental health services.

Objectives

The aim of this study was to assess the behavioral patterns of Internet and drug addiction among urban and rural students in Urmia, Iran.

Methods

A sectional and descriptive–analytical approach with stratified sampling method was employed to recruit 385 high school students from urban and rural areas. The Internet Addiction Test (IAT) and the Addiction Acknowledgement Scale (AAS) were used for data collection.

Results

The total score of Internet addiction among the students was 41.72 ± 17.41. Approximately two-third of the students were not addicted to the Internet. The mean score of the AAS was 1.87 ± 1.23 among boys and 1.75 ± 1.31 among girls. Moreover, 8.31% of the students were prone to abusing substances. A statistically significant relationship was found between mother’s literacy level and Internet addiction behavior of students (p=0.009).

Conclusion

Concentrating on adolescents’ behavioral patterns and their tendency toward misusing Internet and drugs is a notable procedure. Therefore, focusing on adolescents’ health and institutionalizing appropriate training programs for adolescents and their families are vital.

Keywords:

• Internet
• drug abuse
• adolescence
• addiction
• behavior

Acknowledgments

The study was financed by a grant from the Tabriz University of Medical Sciences (grant number: 5/53/3183-31/08/2014). We really appreciate Deputy of Research and Technology for their valuable supports. We also are most grateful for the assistance given by Mrs. Ghalichi, the facilitators, and the participants. Last, but not the least, we would like to show our gratitude to Professor Hamid Allahverdipour and Doctor Kousha who provided insight and expertise that greatly assisted the research.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.