1. Is it meaningful to distinguish between generalized and specific Internet addiction? Evidence from a cross-cultural study from Germany, Sweden, Taiwan and China.
- Author
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Montag C, Bey K, Sha P, Li M, Chen YF, Liu WY, Zhu YK, Li CB, Markett S, Keiper J, and Reuter M
- Subjects
- Adolescent, Adult, China, Female, Germany, Humans, Male, Personality, Self Concept, Surveys and Questionnaires, Sweden, Taiwan, Video Games, Young Adult, Behavior, Addictive diagnosis, Cross-Cultural Comparison, Internet
- Abstract
Introduction: It has been hypothesized that two distinctive forms of Internet addiction exist. Here, generalized Internet addiction refers to the problematic use of the Internet covering a broad range of Internet-related activities. In contrast, specific forms of Internet addiction target the problematic use of distinct online activities such as excessive online video gaming or activities in social networks., Methods: The present study investigates the relationship between generalized and specific Internet addiction in a cross-cultural study encompassing data from China, Taiwan, Sweden and Germany in nā=ā636 participants. In this study, we assessed - besides generalized Internet addiction - addictive behavior in the domains of online video gaming, online shopping, online social networks and online pornography., Results: The results confirm the existence of distinct forms of specific Internet addiction. One exception, however, was established in five of the six samples under investigation: online social network addiction correlates in large amounts with generalized Internet addiction., Discussion: In general, it is of importance to distinguish between generalized and specific Internet addiction., (Copyright © 2014 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.)
- Published
- 2015
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