Classifying Internet Pathological Users: Their Usage, Internet Sensation Seeking, and Perceptions.

A study was conducted to identify pathological Internet users and to reveal their psychological features and problematic usage patterns. One thousand and fifty Taiwanese undergraduates were selected. An Internet Addiction Scale was adopted to classify 648 students into 4 clusters. The 146 users in the 4th cluster, who reported significantly higher degrees of addiction and perceived more negative impacts from using the Internet, were believed to be the at-risk pathological Internet users. These users were further classified into five groups according to their Internet usage, Internet sensation seeking, and perceptions of the Internet. The major finding of this study is that at-risk pathological Internet users can be classified into five subgroups with distinct problematic features. The results suggest that viewing these problematic natures as a cohesive group is inadequate. Pathological Internet users are heterogeneous, engaging in various Internet applications in different intensities, some emphasizing the pleasure or attention driven features, and others seeking stimulating activities and materials. The investigation encourages the awareness of this problem among families, universities, business, and even government offices, with the aim of promoting healthy use of the Internet. (Contains 1 figure, 6 tables, and 27 references.) (JDM)