Computers in Human Behavior 70 (2017) 556e563

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Computers in Human Behavior

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Full length article

Prevalence of Internet Addiction and associated risk factors in

Jordanian school students
Malakeh Z. Malak a, *, Anas H. Khalifeh b, Ahmed H. Shuhaiber c
a
Community Health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Al-Zaytoonah University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan
b
Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing. Prince Hamzah Hospital, Amman, Jordan
c
MIS Department, College of Business, Al Ain University of Science and Technology, P.O. Box: 112612, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Internet Addiction has become a public health issue that cannot be neglected. In Jordan, there is a need to
Received 11 October 2016 investigate this issue among school students. This descriptive correlational study aimed to assess the
Received in revised form prevalence of Internet Addition and associated risk factors in Jordanian school students. The participants
3 January 2017
(N ¼ 716) aged 12e18 years were selected randomly from ten public schools in Amman Governorate in
Accepted 7 January 2017
Available online 10 January 2017
Jordan. Socio-demographical data, patterns of Internet usage, the Young's Internet Addiction Tool (YIAT),
the Symptom Checklist-anxiety scale (SCL-anxiety), and the Center for Epidemiological Studies
Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC) were used. The findings showed that the prevalence of severe
Keywords:
Anxiety
Internet Addiction was 6.3%. The highest prevalence of Internet Addiction was among students with
Depression family monthly income >1400$/, their fathers completed elementary education and mothers completed
Factors university and higher education, and their academic performance was poor. The friend's home was the
Internet Addiction favorite place among Internet addicted students. Chatting was the highest reason for Internet Addiction.
Prevalence The students were experiencing anxiety and depression symptoms had the highest prevalence of
School students Internet Addiction (10.3%, 8.2%, respectively). There was a statistically significant relationship between
the age, school grade, family income, academic performance, average hours of Internet daily usage
during school days and holidays, anxiety, depression, and Internet Addiction. These findings emphasize
the importance of developing and implementing interventions such as preventive measures and early
diagnosis of Internet Addiction among school students. Furthermore, counseling programs are recom-
mended to increase the awareness of families regarding Internet Addiction and their responsibilities in
providing guidance and support for their children.
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction becoming a home-based activity (United Nations, 2011, pp. 27e30;

The Internet is considered as an integral part of daily people's
life in the contemporary world (Correa, Hinsley, & de Zún ~ iga, 2010).
Its usage be more widespread. It is used widely in different areas of
life such as education, academic activities and research, informa-
tion exchange, interpersonal communication, commerce, science,
and entertainment (Goel, Subramanyam, & Kamath, 2013). There is
increasing in availability and affordability of Internet at homes,
schools, colleges, libraries, and Internet cafes (United Nations, 2011,
pp. 27e30). Researchers have shown that Internet usage is
* Corresponding author. Community Health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Al-
Zaytoonah University of Jordan, P.O. Box: 130, Amman 11733, Jordan.
E-mail addresses: malakeh.m@zuj.edu.jo, malakehmalak@yahoo.com
(M.Z. Malak), ahmed.shuhaiber@aau.ac.ae (A.H. Shuhaiber).
Valcke, Bonte, De Wever, & Rots, 2010). Recently, the prevalence of
Internet users has increased rapidly, with the current estimated
world's number of Internet users in 2015 was 3.2 billion
(International Telecommunications Unions, 2015). In Jordan, the
Internet users increased from 5.3 million in 2013, forming 73% of
the Jordanian population (Telecommunications Regulatory
Commission, 2013), to 5.7 million Internet users in 2015, forming
86.1% of the country's population (Internet World Statistics, 2015).
Adolescents and school students are the major Internet users and
the most vulnerable group for excessive Internet usage (Ak, Koruklu &
Yilmaz, 2013; Koyuncu, Unsal, & Arslantas, 2014; Li, Dang, Zhang,
Zhang, & Guo, 2014). They use Internet for searching information,
online playing games, chatting websites, sending e-mails, browsing
web, downloading software and media file, and listening to music as
well as watching movies (Goel et al., 2013; Koyuncu et al., 2014; Wang

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.01.011
0747-5632/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 M.Z. Malak et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 70 (2017) 556e563
et al., 2011; Yadav, Banwari, Parmar, & Maniar, 2013). The statistics
reported that there are 36.0% of adolescents' Internet users' world-
wide (International Telecommunication Union, 2011). In Jordan, the
percentage of Internet users among students aged 10e19 years was
48.8% (Department of Statistics, Jordan, 2013). Not surprisingly,
Internet is prevalent and common among adolescents because of its
availability, accessibility, and inexpensively (Ahmadi, 2014).
Previous studies have reported that the overuse or improper
Internet usage among school students is resulting in higher
vulnerability to the phenomenon of Internet Addiction (IA) (Ak
et al., 2013; AL-Qudah, 2011; Esen & Siyez, 2011; Li et al., 2014;
Wang et al., 2011). Internet Addiction is defined as compulsive
behaviors related to any online activities that affect normal daily
life and cause stress on social relationships (Young, 2004). It is
usually conceptualized as an impulse control disorder in which
individual has inability to control Internet usage (Cao, Sun, Wan,
Hao, & Tao, 2011; Goel et al., 2013; Ko, Yen, Yen, Chen, & Chen,
2012; Lee & Jung, 2012). This eventually causes different social,
psychological, physical, academic performance, and work diffi-
culties (Lee & Stapinski, 2012; Tahiroglu, Celic, Uzel, Ozcan, &Avci,
2008). Internet Addiction has been characterized by excessive or
poorly controlled preoccupation, urges, and/or behaviors regarding
Internet usage are leading to impairment or distress in several life
areas (Weinstein, Feder, Rosenberg, & Dannon, 2014). Young
(1998a) defined IA as“ a problematic behavior akin to patholog-
ical gambling and is a failure of personal impulse control not
involving the ingestion of psychoactive intoxicants”. Moreover,
Young (1998b) developed an assessment tool for IA by adapting
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV (DSM-IV) criteria for patho-
logical gambling. This tool is still widely adopted in investigating IA.
According to previous studies, the international prevalence rate
of IA among adolescents ranged from 0.9% to 38% (Xu et al., 2012).
In a national study, the prevalence of IA among school students at
Zarqa Governorate was 8.5% (Atoum & Hattab, 2015). Researchers
have identified several factors associated with IA among school
students. It has been reported that IA could be influenced by age,
family income (Ahmadi, 2014; Durkee et al., 2012; Heo, Oh,
Subramanian, Kim, & Kawachi, 2014; Koyuncu et al., 2014), par-
ents' educational level, age at using Internet for the first time
(Tsitsika et al., 2008), academic performance (Frangos, Fragkos, &
Kiohos, 2010), anxiety, and depression (Saşmaz, Oner,€ Kurt, Yapıcı,
Yazıcı, Bugdaycı, & Şiş, 2013; Tang et al., 2014).
Internet Addiction has become a public health issue that
cannot be neglected. In Jordan, there is a need to investigate this
issue among school students. Unfortunately, the Jordanian pub-
lished studies concerned IA are limited and focused on university
students (AL-Qudah, 2011; Al-Gamal, Alzayyat, & Ahmad, 2015;
Alzayyat, Al-Gamal, & Ahmad, 2015; Eyadat, Alzghoul, & Shar-
qawi, 2012). As of yet, there is only one study investigated IA
among school students (Atoum & Hattab, 2015), therefore, the
current study is considered as one of the first Jordanian studies
that evaluate IA among school students. This baseline information
may be of value for health care professionals in planning and
implementing the appropriate cultural interventions against this
problem, and establishing trends in the prevalence of IA and
associated risk factors for using in evaluation of school health and
adolescents'. Thus, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the
prevalence of IA and associated risk factors in Jordanian school
students aged 12e18 years.
2. Method
2.1. Design and sample
This study was carried out in the schools at the city of Amman in
557
Jordan by using a descriptive correlational design. Amman is the
capital and the largest city in the country. It composed of five di-
rectorates of public education and one directorate of private edu-
cation. The school students in directorates of public education
constituted the study population. The students of the public
schools represent diverse economical and geographical back-
grounds. Moreover, the public schools are single gender.
The sample size for correlation analysis was calculated by using
G* power 3.1.7 software (Faul, Erdfelder, Lang, & Buchner, 2013) by
setting an alpha level of 0.05, a power of 0.85, and estimating an
effect size (R2 ¼ 0.12), a power analysis indicated the need for 620
participants. The researchers enlarged the sample size to 720 stu-
dents to cover drop out of any subjects. The inclusion criteria
included the students who had Jordanian nationality, aged between
12 and 18 years, used Internet at least three months, had not been
diagnosed with anxiety or depression or received any treatment to
these disorders for at least one year before participation in this
study, and had willing of guardians/parents and students to
participate. A cluster random sampling method was used to select
eligible students.
2.2. Measurement
A self-administered questionnaire was used and consisted of the
following tools:
2.2.1. Socio-demographical questionnaire
The researchers developed a questionnaire to collect informa-
tion regarding students' socio-demographical characteristics such
as age, gender, school grade, family monthly income, parents'
educational level, and academic performance.
2.2.2. Patterns of Internet usage questionnaire
It was developed by the researchers and included questions
regarding age at Internet usage for the first time, average hours of
Internet usage daily after school, average hours of Internet usage
daily during holiday, main purpose for Internet usage, and favorite
place for Internet usage.
2.2.3. The Young's Internet Addiction Tool (YIAT)
It was originally developed by Young (1998a) to measure stu-
dents' levels of IA. The YIAT consists of 20 items were rated on five-
Point responses format ranging from 1 ¼ rarely, 2 ¼ occasionally,
3 ¼ frequently, 4 ¼ often, and 5 ¼ always. The total scoring ranging
from 20 to 100 in which scores 50 indicate IA (Ni, Yan, Chen, & Liu,
2009). Since Arabic is the native language in Jordan, the researchers
used the Arabic version of the instrument, which has been prepared
by Hawi (2012). The Arabic version of YIAT was examined among
Lebanese adolescent students and has been shown to have good
internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's alpha ¼ 0.92) (Hawi,
2013).
2.2.4. The Symptom Checklist-anxiety (SCL-anxiety)
This tool was derived from Symptom Checklist-25 (SCL-25) and
was originally designed by Parloff, Kelman, and Frank (1954). The
SCL-anxiety composed of 10 items to assess anxiety symptoms,
including suddenly scared for no reason, feeling fearful, faintness,
dizziness, or weakness, nervousness or shakiness inside, heart
pounding or racing, trembling, feeling tense or keyed up, head-
aches, spells of terror or panic, and feeling restless. All items were
rated on a four-Point Likert scale ranging from 1 to 4 (Murphy,
1986). The total scoring ranges from 10 to 40, whereas scores 18
indicate presence of anxiety symptoms (Eberhard-Gran, Tambs,
Opjordsmoen, Skrondal, & Eskild, 2003).
558 M.Z. Malak et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 70 (2017) 556e563

2.2.5. The Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for
Children (CES-DC)
This tool was used to assess the frequency and duration of the
symptoms associated with depression in adolescents (Lorraine,
2005). It consists of 20 items reflect positive and negative experi-
ences. These items were scored by using four-point responses of
0 (not at all) to 3 (a lot). The scores of 15 and over indicate presence
of depressive symptoms (Mash & Barkley, 2007, p. 232).
The SCL-anxiety and CES-DC scales were translated into
Arabic language. Then, the Arabic version of the instruments was
pilot tested on a group of non-selected school students (n ¼ 60).
The pilot study confirmed that the questionnaire was clear, and
the students did not have questions about most items on the
instruments. It supported the use of the previously published
Arabic version of YIAT without the need for any further modifi-
cation. Furthermore, internal consistency reliability was assessed
for these tools using Cronbach's a. The results for SCL-anxiety
and CES-DC, and YIAT scales were 0.84, 0.85, and 0.93,
respectively.
3. Results
3.1. Sample characteristics
The total number of adolescent students who participated in the
study was 716, of which 357 (49.9%) were boys and 359 (50.1%)
were girls. The mean age of students was 14.4 years (standard de-
viation [SD] ¼ 1.69). Students were almost equally distributed in all
school grades. About one-third (33.9%) of students reported their
family monthly income were 350 < 700$. Moreover, 49.3% of stu-
dents' fathers completed university and higher education, however,
45.5% of their mothers completed secondary education. Concerning
school academic performance, 31.6% of students had very good
grades (80 < 90), while, 8.9% had medium grades (60 < 70), and
3.4% had poor grades (50 < 59). The prevalence of IA was 6.3%. A
total of 41.9% of students were experiencing anxiety. The majority
of students (73.5%) were experiencing depression (Table 1).
Table 1
Characteristics of study population (N ¼ 716).

2.3. Ethical considerations Characteristics n %

Age
Ethical codes were adhered to all stages of this study. Approval 12 < 13 years 139 19.4
was granted from the ethical committee of ZUJ and the Directorates 13 < 14 years 99 13.8
of Public Education in Amman. Furthermore, a written informed 14 < 15 years 119 16.6
15 < 16 years 130 18.2
consent was obtained from the guardians/parents of the study 16 < 17 years 129 18.0
participants. The researchers were informed about their rights of 17e18 years 100 14.0
confidentiality and anonymity. It was also made clear to each of Gender
them that participation was voluntary, and there would be no Male 357 49.9
Female 359 50.1
direct benefit or reward.
School grade
Seventh 118 16.5
Eighth 118 16.5
Ninth 120 16.8
2.4. Data collection procedure
Tenth 120 16.8
First secondary 120 16.8
All the directorates of public education located in Amman were Second secondary 120 16.8
selected. Then, ten schools (five for females and five for males) were Family monthly income
<350$ 59 8.2
selected by random drawing, whereas two schools (one for females
350 < 700$ 243 33.9
and one for males) were selected randomly from each directorate. 700 < 1050$ 171 23.9
The school grades from the seventh to the second secondary were 1050 < 1400$ 141 19.7
enrolled in the study. Then, one class of 30e34 students from each >1400$ 102 14.2
school grades was randomly selected from each selected school. Fathers' educational level
Illiterate 8 1.1
Data were collected from students by researchers immediately after
Primary 24 3.4
their guardians/parents agreed on their participation in the study. A Elementary 67 9.4
brief description of the study purposes and instructions were given Secondary 264 36.9
to each selected class. Then anonymous self-reported question- University and higher education 363 49.3
naires were distributed and collected from all participated classes Mothers' educational level
Illiterate 20 2.8
at each study site on the same day. Data collection was conducted Primary 16 2.2
during the first semester of the 2015e2016. Elementary 55 7.7
Secondary 326 45.5
University e and higher education 299 41.8
Academic performance
2.5. Data analysis Excellent (90e100) 205 28.6
Very good (80 < 90) 226 31.6
The Statistical Package of Social Science (SPSS) Version 21 was Good (70 < 80) 197 27.5
Medium (60 < 70) 64 8.9
used for data analysis. Basic descriptive statistics (frequencies, Poor (50 < 60) 24 3.4
percentages) were used to describe the study variables. Pearson's Internet Addiction
correlation was used to examine the relationships between socio- Normal 671 93.7
demographical characteristics (e.g., age, school grade, family Addiction 45 6.3
Anxiety
monthly income, parents' educational level, and academic perfor-
Not present 416 58.1
mance), patterns of Internet usage (e.g., age at Internet usage for Present 300 41.9
the first time, average hours of Internet daily usage after school, and Depression
average hours of Internet daily usage during holiday), anxiety, and Not present 190 26.5
depression (independent variables), and IA (a dependent variable). Present 526 73.5

The findings were considered significant if 0.05. n: number; %: percentage.

 M.Z. Malak et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 70 (2017) 556e563 559

3.2. Patterns of Internet usage Table 3

Prevalence of internet addiction among school students (N ¼ 716).

As shown in Table 2, 293 (40.9%) of students used the Internet Variables Normal n (%) Addiction n (%)
for the first time at age 10e12 years, while 1.1% used at age > 16 Age
years. Of interest, 41.3% of students spent 1e3 h of Internet daily 12 < 13 years 136 (97.8) 3 (2.2)
usage after school, while 4.7% spent >10 h. In addition, 28.9% of 13 < 14 years 93 (93.9) 6 (6.1)
students had spent > 3e6 h daily during holiday, however, 8.8% 14 < 15 years 109 (91.6) 10 (8.4)
15 < 16 years 122 (93.8) 8 (6.2)
spent 1 h. The majority of students (88.8%) considered home as a
16 < 17 years 117 (90.7) 12 (9.3)
favorite place for Internet usage. Social networking was reported 17e18 years 94 (94.0) 6 (6.0)
the most reason for Internet usage (30.3%), followed by education, Gender
homework and research (24.6%). Male 345 (96.4) 326 (91.1)
Female 13 (3.6) 32 (8.9)
School grade
3.3. Prevalence of IA Seventh 118 (100.0) 0 (0.0)
Eighth 110 (93.2) 8 (6.8)
The students aged 16 < 17 years had the highest prevalence of IA Ninth 112 (93.3) 8 (6.7)
(9.3%). Female students had higher percentage of IA than male Tenth 109 (90.8) 11 (9.2)
First secondary 109 (90.8) 11 (9.2)
students (8.9%, 3.6%, respectively). The highest prevalence of IA was Second secondary 113 (94.2) 7 (5.8)
among students in the tenth and the first secondary classes both Family monthly income
(9.2%), their family monthly income > 1400$ (8.8%), their fathers < 350$ 56 (94.9) 3 (5.1)
completed elementary education, their mothers completed uni- 350 < 700$ 234 (96.3) 9 (3.7)
700 < 1050$ 158 (92.4) 13 (7.6)
versity and high education (7.5%, 7.7%, respectively), and their ac-
1050 < 1400$ 130 (92.2) 11 (7.8)
ademic performance was poor (8.3%). The highest prevalence of IA > 1400$ 93 (91.2) 9 (8.8)
was among students used Internet at age >16 years, and among Fathers' educational level
students spent >10 h daily on the Internet after school and during Illiterate 8 (100.0) 0 (0.0)
holiday (32.4%, 20.3%, respectively). The friend's home was the fa- Primary 24 (100.0) 0 (0.0)
Elementary 62 (92.5) 5 (7.5)
vorite place among students living with IA (20.0%). Chatting was Secondary 249 (94.3) 15 (5.7)
documented as the highest (12.3%) reason for IA. Moreover, the University and higher education 328 (92.9) 25 (7.1)
students were experiencing anxiety and depression symptoms had Mothers' educational level
the highest prevalence of IA (10.3%, 8.2%, respectively) (Table 3). Illiterate 20 (100.0) 0 (0.0)
Primary 16 (100.0) 0 (0.0)
Elementary 52 (94.5) 3 (5.5)
3.4. Risk-factors of IA Secondary 307 (94.2) 19 (5.8)
University and higher education 276 (92.3) 23 (7.7)
The correlations between IA and associated risk factors are Academic performance
Excellent (90e100) 192 (93.7) 13 (6.3)
Very good (80 < 90) 216 (95.6) 10 (4.4)
Table 2 Good (70 < 80) 181 (91.9) 16 (8.1)
Patterns of internet usage among school students (N ¼ 716). Medium (60 < 70) 60 (93.8) 4 (6.2)
Poor (50 < 60) 22 (91.7) 2 (8.3)
Patterns n % Age at Internet usage for the first time
< 10 years 200 (93.0) 15 (7.0)
Age at Internet usage for the first time
10e12 years 278 (94.9) 15 (5.1)
<10 years 215 30.0
> 12e14 years 153 (92.7) 12 (7.3)
10e12 years 293 40.9
> 14e16 years 33 (94.3) 2 (5.7)
>12e14 years 165 23.0
> 16 years 7 (87.5) 1 (12.5)
>14e16 years 35 4.9
Average hours of Internet daily usage after school
>16 years 8 1.1
< 1 h daily 219 (100.0) 0 (0.0)
Average hours of Internet daily usage after school
1e3 h 284 (95.9) 12 (4.1)
<1 h daily 219 30.6
> 3e6 h 109 (89.3) 13 (10.7)
1e3 h 296 41.3
> 6e10 h 36 (80.0) 9 (20.0)
>3e6 h 122 17.0
> 10 h 23 (67.6) 11 (32.4)
>6e10 h 45 6.3
Average hours of Internet daily usage during holiday
>10 h 34 4.7
< 1 h daily 63 (100.0) 0 (0)
Average hours of Internet daily usage during holiday
1e3 h 193 (100.0) 0 (0)
<1 h daily 63 8.8
> 3e6 h 198 (95.7) 9 (4.3)
1e3 h 193 27.0
> 6e10 h 107 (93.0) 8 (7.0)
>3e6 h 207 28.9
> 10 h 110 (79.7) 28 (20.3)
>6e10 h 115 16.1
Favorite place of Internet usage
>10 h 138 19.3
Home 602 (94.8) 33 (5.2)
Favorite place of Internet usage 
Internet cafe 6 (100.0) 0 (0.0)
Home 635 88.7
Friend's home 12 (80.0) 3 (20.0)

Internet cafe 20 2.8
School computer labs 17 (85.0) 3 (15.0)
Friend's home 15 2.1
Others 34 (85.0) 6 (15.0)
School computer labs 6 0.8
Purpose of Internet usage
Others 40 5.6
Education, homework, & research 175 (99.4) 1 (0.6)
Purpose of Internet usage
Social networking 196 (90.3) 21 (9.7)
Education, homework, & research 176 24.6
Chatting 107 (87.7) 15 (12.3)
Social networking 217 30.3
Gambling 58 (96.7) 2 (3.3)
Chatting 122 17.0
Surfing websites 75 (97.4) 2 (2.6)
Gambling 77 10.8
Gaming 60 (93.8) 4 (6.3)
Surfing websites 64 8.9
Anxiety
Gaming 60 8.4
(continued on next page)
n: number; %: percentage.
560 M.Z. Malak et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 70 (2017) 556e563

Table 3 (continued ) excessive Internet usage than younger adolescents. Wu et al. (2016)
Variables Normal n (%) Addiction n (%) reported that late adolescents (aged 15e18) had a higher preva-
lence of IA compared to early adolescents (aged 11e14). This
Not present 402 (96.6) 14 (3.4)
Present 269 (89.7) 31 (10.3)
because older adolescents experience serious problems associated
Depression with studying, maturation, weak relationships with colleagues and
Not present 188 (98.9) 2 (1.1) educational staff, and problems in family context (Wang et al.,
Present 483 (91.8) 43 (8.2) 2011). The results of this study showed a statistically significant
n: number; %: percentage. relationship between age and IA. Ko, Yen, Chen, Yi-Chun Yeh, and
Yen (2009) indicated age was associated with IA in junior high
school male students. However, this finding is inconsistent with
presented in Table 4. Regarding socio-demographical characteris- previous studies (Johansson & Gotestam, 2004; Şaşmaz et al., 2013).
tics, Pearson's correlation results showed a statistically significant This study showed that gender categories vary in the prevalence
positive relationship between IA, age (r ¼ 0.128; p < 0.01), school of IA. The findings of this study correspond with a previous study
grade (r ¼ 0.124; p < 0.01), family income (r ¼ 0.135; p < 0.01), and (Rücker, Akre, Berchtold, & Suris, 2015) that revealed the IA had
academic performance (r ¼ 0.151; p < 0.01). Patterns of Internet higher rates in females than males but inconsistent with the find-
usage had statistically significant relationships with IA. There were ings of others (Alhantoushi & Alabdullateef, 2014; Ha & Hwang,
positive relationships between IA and average hours of Internet 2014; Hawi, 2012; Tang et al., 2014; Wang, Anise, Wu, & Lau,
daily usage after school (r ¼ 0.439; p < 0.01), and average hours of 2016; Yadav et al., 2013) showing that males had a higher likeli-
Internet daily usage during holiday (r ¼ 0.511; p < 0.01). Further- hood of IA than females. Koyuncu et al. (2014) indicated no differ-
more, IA was associated positively with anxiety symptoms ence between males and females in terms of IA. The most believed
(r ¼ 0.306; p < 0.01), and depression symptoms (r ¼ 0.251; interpretation of the present study findings is adolescent females
p ¼ 0.01). are more concerned about seeking a companionship by using
different applications of the Internet, building social networking
4. Discussion and relationships, developing close friends, and sharing feelings
and ideas in a confidential ways than males (Lazaratou et al., 2013).
About 6.3% of school students in this study appeared to be The findings of this study are consistent with a previous
“addicted” to Internet as measured by the YIAT. This percentage is research (Şaşmaz et al., 2013) that showed the prevalence of IA was
consistent with previous studies from Arab countries (Alhantoushi higher in the first secondary class than the second secondary. This
& Alabdullateef, 2014; Hawi, 2012). However, it is lower than that of drop in Internet addicts in the second secondary class may be
earlier reports from national and international countries, which related to the education and examination system of Jordan. There is
documenting 7.1%e25.3% of school students were experiencing IA a General Secondary Education Certificate Examination (Tawjihi)
(Ahmadi, 2014; Atoum & Hattab, 2015; Cam & Nur, 2015; Şaşmaz conducting in the second secondary class and qualifying students
et al., 2013; Wang, Anise, Wu, & Lau, 2016; Wu et al., 2016; Yadav for competition on university entrance. This examination consid-
et al., 2013). This variation between countries may be related to ered as a problematic issue among students and parents alike. It is
different methodologies such as tools for diagnoses, sampling the sole decider of students' fate in higher education. Therefore,
technique, and cultural diversity among communities even within those students spend most of their time in preparation and
the same country. Furthermore, the lower level of IA in this study studying for this examination. The present study also showed a
might be related to the cultural and social characteristics of the statistically significant relationship between school grade and IA.
eastern Jordanian society. The Jordanian families are conservative This result is similar to a previous study (Şaşmaz et al., 2013).
and still have some control, supervision, and guidance over their Therefore, school grade was indicated as a risk factor for IA.
children's cyber behaviors (Atoum & Hattab, 2015). Moreover, it The Internet is considered as an indicator of social and educa-
could be related to school students' preferences of their friends or tional class, so most of adolescents having accessibility to it come
families companion on Internet activities (Atoum & Hattab, 2015). from family environments with a higher educational background
One of the findings of this study is that the prevalence of IA (Aslanidou & Menexes, 2008). The study results indicated that the
fluctuated with age, and high prevalence was among students aged students whose fathers completed a university or higher education
15 < 16 years. This indicates that this group is more prone to had a higher access to Internet than other groups. However, the
prevalence of IA was higher among students whose fathers
completed elementary education than others, which is similar to
Table 4 Tekkant and Topaloglu (2015) findings showing that the prevalence
Correlations between students' socio-demographical characteristics, patterns of
of IA was the highest among students whose fathers were primary-
Internet usage, anxiety, depression, and Internet Addiction.
secondary school graduates. On the contrary, Lam, Peng, Mai, and
Risk factors r p-value Jing (2009) documented that students whose fathers completed
Socio-demographical characteristics university or higher education had higher prevalence of IA than
Age 0.128 0.001** others. Furthermore, the current study demonstrated that no
School grade 0.124 0.001** relationship between fathers' educational level and IA, which is
Fathers' educational level 0.072 0.054
Mothers' educational level 0.044 0.239
consistent with previous studies findings (Lam, Peng, Ma, & Jing,
Family income 0.135 0.000** 2009), thus, fathers' educational level was not a risk factor for IA.
Academic performance 0.151 0.000** One of the findings of this study is that the students whose
Patterns of Internet usage mothers' were secondary education graduates had higher preva-
Age at Internet usage for the first time 0.056 0.134
lence of IA than others. On the contrary, the high prevalence of IA
Average hours of Internet daily usage after school 0.439 0.000**
Average hours of Internet daily usage during holiday 0.511 0.000** was among students whose mothers completed university or
Anxiety 0.306 0.000** higher education. Tekkant and Topaloglu (2015) reported that the
Depression 0.251 0.000** highest prevalence of IA was mong students whose mothers were
**
Significant 0.01 level (2-tailed). high school graduates. The study results correspond with previous
*
Significant 0.05 (2-tailed). studies (Koyuncu et al., 2014; Tekkant & Topaloglu, 2015; Uneri &
 M.Z. Malak et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 70 (2017) 556e563
Tanidir, 2011) that suggested no significant association between
mothers' educational level and IA. Mothers' educational level was
not found to be associated risk factor of IA.
Findings of this study are similar to past research findings (Ak
et al., 2013; Alhantoushi & Alabdullateef, 2014; Cao et al., 2011)
indicated that students with high family income had high per-
centage of IA but inconsistent with the findings of Wu et al. (2016)
study documenting that adolescents with low family income had
high rates of IA. High-income families obtain both computer and
internet connection services at home (Ak et al., 2013). This because
of their conviction that the Internet could provide many benefits for
their children such as assisting in academic and homework as-
signments (Hawi, 2012) but they are not recognizing the undesir-
able effects of Internet such as IA. Results also indicated a
relationship between family income and IA, which is similar to a
previous report (Ak et al., 2013). Therefore, family income was
considered as a risk factor for IA. These results stress the need of
these families for interventions and strategies regarding the risks of
Internet and IA.
The study findings support earlier studies (Alhantoushi &
Alabdullateef, 2014; Hawi, 2012; Koc & Tamer, 2011) showing
that students with poor academic performance had higher level of
IA than other performances. Gencer and Koc (2012) suggested that
students with poor academic performance may experience
stressors from schools and low self-esteem, therefore, Internet can
be used as a way of escaping from these stressors, and obtaining
satisfaction and pleasure through fulfilling their own potentials.
The present study revealed a statistically significant relationship
between academic performance and IA. This result is similar to past
studies' findings (Frangos et al., 2010; Şaşmaz et al., 2013) but
inconsistent with findings of another (Hawi, 2012) showing that no
relationship was found between academic performance and IA. In
the current study academic performance was a risk factor for IA.
One finding of this study is that the majority of students re-
ported the age at Internet usage for the first time was 10e12 years.
In Jordan, the Internet is considered as one of the luxuries of the
modern life and a necessary tool for providing teaching and aca-
demic benefits to younger students (Abu-Shanab, Al-Rub, & Nor,
2010; Khasawneh, 2009). Therefore, students live in an environ-
ment that supports Internet usage. Internet became a major activity
in their lives (Shaw & Black, 2008). The study also indicated that IA
was higher among students who used Internet at older adolescence
(greater than 16 years) than at younger adolescence, which is re-
ported in study. However, these findings are inconsistent with
previous studies (Ko et al., 2012; Koyuncu et al., 2014) documenting
that the prevalence of IA was higher among students who used
Internet at their earlier adolescence ages. This result also supports
the findings of a previous study (Hur, 2006) showing that students'
age at their Internet first-time use was not a risk factor for IA. On
the contrary, previous studies (Ahmadi, 2014; Durkee et al., 2012;
Heo et al., 2014; Koyuncu et al., 2014) demonstrated that IA was
associated with age at Internet usage.
The present study revealed that the majority of students spent
1e3 h of Internet daily usage after school and >3e6 h during hol-
idays. The same results were revealed by Hawi (2012) in a study on
Lebanese students. The study findings are congruent with previous
reports (Canan, Ataoglu, Ozcetin, & Icmeli, 2012; Cao et al., 2011;
Huang & Shen, 2010; Şaşmaz et al., 2013) showing that students
who used Internet more than 10 h daily after school and during
holidays were more likely to develop IA. This finding may be
explained by the fact that the duration of Internet usage is one of
the signs of IA (Czincz & Hechanova, 2009). Internet addicts find
difficulty in studying, and suffering from problems in time man-
agement and sleep (Hawi, 2012).
The home was the favorite place for Internet usage among
561
students. This could be related to availability of Internet in almost
all Jordanian homes and accessibility of the Internet at all ages
especially adolescents (Al-Gamal et al., 2015). Surprisingly, this
study showed that the friend's home was the favorite place among
students experiencing IA, this because of easier access to the
Internet websites in these environments compared to their own
homes. This finding might be also related to parental supervision
and monitoring in the Jordanian culture on their children and
Internet websites at homes. Furthermore, the current study
showed that the level of IA was the lowest among students who
used Internet at schools' computer labs. This finding is consistent
with a previous study (Gencer & Koc, 2012). This might be related
to efficient supervision and control of the educational system by
administrations and teachers at schools (Gencer & Koc, 2012).
The current study revealed that students used the Internet
mainly for social networking. This finding is similar to a previous
research findings (Yang & Tung, 2007) indicating that school stu-
dents used the Internet to enhance peer relationships. Findings of
this study supported previous studies' results (Cao et al., 2011; Jang,
Hwang, & Choi, 2008; Kormas, Critselis, Janikian, Kafetzis, &
Tsitsika, 2011) showing that chatting was the highest reason for
IA. Internet promotes students' socialization and relationships
because it allows them to communicate in environment safe-
guarding the privacy of them, which leading to increase the dura-
tion of Internet usage and develop IA (Koc & Tamer, 2011). The
present study revealed that the prevalence of IA for school pur-
poses (e.g., education, homework, and research) was low. This
result is similar to Aslanidou and Menexes (2008) study findings.
These findings suggesting that Internet usage for non-educational
and research purposes causes higher rates of IA (Koc & Tamer,
2011).
The results of the current study revealed that Jordanian school
students had high prevalence of anxiety and depression (41.9%,
73.5%). School students aged 12e18 undergo many developmental
changes leading them to experience social and psychological
problems, therefore Internet is considered as rich environment to
fulfill their needs and forget their problems (S ̧aşmaz et al., 2013).
This study support the findings of early studies (Çam & Nur, 2015;
Goel et al., 2013; Tang et al., 2014; Yadav et al., 2013) indicating a
relationship between anxiety, depression and IA. In the current
study these two psychological problems were shown to be asso-
ciated factors for IA. Consequently, it seems that Jordanian students
experience anxiety and depression symptoms at higher for devel-
oping IA than students did not exhibit symptoms. Therefore, these
results recommend the need for providing psychological coun-
seling and support for school students and developing the early
screening for high-risk groups with anxiety and depression
symptoms to minimize the risk of IA (Ni et al., 2009).
5. Limitations
There are several limitations underlying this study could be
realized. First, the sampling was considered a limitation. The par-
ticipants were obtained from public schools in Amman Gover-
norate, which might not be representative of the entire students in
Jordan. The study's representativeness of the target population may
be doubtful, and the results may not be generalized to all Jordanian
school students. Moreover, the size of the sub-sample from each
selected school was selected randomly but not in proportion to the
academic performance. Second, it is worth mentioning that the
research design could not confirm whether causal relationships
between IA and possible influential factors existed, it could be an
implied direction of causality (IA causes anxiety and depression).
Third, it can be speculated that students cannot be totally objective
regardless of the strictness of measures to prevent bias.
562 M.Z. Malak et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 70 (2017) 556e563
6. Conclusions
Overall, this study contributes to increasing understanding of
the prevalence and associated factors of IA among Jordanian school
students. It showed that 6.3% of students experienced IA. The
associated factors of IA were age, school grade, family income, ac-
ademic performance, average hours of Internet daily usage after
school and during holidays, anxiety, and depression. These findings
emphasize the importance of developing and implementing in-
terventions such as preventive measures and early diagnosis of IA
among school students. Furthermore, counseling programs are
recommended to increase the awareness of families regarding IA
and their responsibilities in providing guidance and support for
their children. Future studies are needed to focus on other factors
for this problem such as parental relationship and parental views of
their children's Internet usage. The use of proportional stratifica-
tion sampling in future studies is recommended.
7. Implications for practice
Awareness of IA among school students is a health care pro-
fessionals concern. Health care professionals especially school
health team should develop prevention program to increase stu-
dents' awareness about IA. Providing psychological support could
decrease the stress and enhance using of positive coping strategies
among school students. Moreover, it is necessary to establish
counseling sessions and mental health clinics for monitoring and
managing IA among high-risk school students. Periodic screening
for monitoring IA symptoms among students could be effective.
Furthermore, professional family based-education and training
programs should be directed to all parents about improper Internet
usage, IA responses, and appropriate interventions.
Funding
This research received no specific grant from any funding
agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Conflict of interest
None declared.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the directorates of public ed-
ucation in Amman Governorate, the schools that participated, their
administration, and their students.
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