ABSTRACT
Background:Stressful life events are common precipitants of internet addiction in youth.ne mechanism by which stress leads to addictive behavior is mediated by an individual's copying style and method of seeking social support. Objective:Assess the social support networks and coping mechanisms employed by middle—school students who meet criteria for internet
addiction.
Method:205 students who met Beard’s criteria for Internet addiction and had associated functional impairment based on a clinical interview
were identified and 176(85.9%)of them completed self-completion questionnaires that assessed coping style(a Chines adaptation
of the Coping Style Questionnaire)and social support(the Social Support Scale developed in China).The results were compared to
those of 352 students(2-to-1 matched for age and gender)who did not meet criteria for internet addiction.
Results:Compared to students without internet addiction.those with intemet addiction had significantly lower mean scores on the problem—solving subscale and the asking for help subscale of the Coping Style Questionnaire,but they had higher scores on the self-blame
subscale and the fantasy subscale.The mean total score. subjective support subscale score,and utilization of support subscale score of
the Social Support Scale were significantly lower in the internet addiction group.Logistic regression analysis found that internet addiction
was independently related to decreased use of problem—solving coping styles,increased use of fantasy and self-blame coping styles,and
decreased utilization of available social support.
Conclusion:Among middle-school students intemet addiction is associated with poor psychological coping styles and with a lack of utilization of available social support.Further research is needed to determine whether or not promotion of positive coping styles in students
and training to develop and use social support networks will prevent interact addiction or ameliorate its negative effects.
Key words:Coping style;Social support;Internet addiction