Demographic, Habitual, and Socioeconomic Determinants of Internet Addiction Disorder: An Empirical Study of Korean Teenagers

Abstract

The objective of this study was to analyze the demographic, socioeconomic, and habitual causes of juvenile Internet addiction. All do not agree that Internet addiction disorder (IAD) is a new type of addiction, but they agree that the IAD phenomenon has widely spread over recent years. This is also true in Korea. For this study, six schools in Korea were selected to collect data: two from Seoul, two from suburban areas, and two from rural areas. Two hundred and forty copies were collected out of some 700 copies distributed. Multiple regression models were employed to explore significant predictors of IAD. This study showed that at least two out of 100 teenagers in Korea are seriously suffering from IAD and that approximately one out of two is exposed to a kind of IAD. The causes of IAD are not only associated with habitual backgrounds for use of the Internet, but also demographic and socioeconomic backgrounds. Therefore, it can be said that the development of IAD is an interactive process between juveniles’ habits of using Internet, and their demographic and socioeconomic backgrounds. As IAD progresses, a single type of intervention such as parent interventions or school interventions does not work effectively. Multimodal interventions are required to provide counseling services for individuals suffering from IAD.