Frequency is not enough : Patterns of use associated with risk of Internet addiction in portuguese adolescents

Gamito, Pedro S.; Morais, Diogo G.; Oliveira, Jorge G.; Brito, Rodrigo; Rosa, Pedro J.; Matos, Margarida Gaspar de

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.12/4604

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Authors

Matos, Margarida Gaspar de

Abstract(s)

This paper reports an exploratory analysis of the relation between Internet addiction and patterns of use among Portuguese adolescents (n ¼ 2617) from the WHO 2010 Health Behavior in School-aged children study, with a short version of Young's Internet Addiction Test (the brief Internet Addiction Questionnaire e bIAQ) and self-reports on online behaviors and access. Two-Step Cluster analysis identified two clusters of users based on their usage pattern: a minority of high-frequency users, with higher bIAQ scores, and a majority of low-frequency users, with lower bIAQ scores. Low and high-frequency users are particularly distinct in specific activities, which converges with previous research showing addiction to specific Internet activities rather than to the Internet as a whole.