The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of control factors on internet addiction, based on Hirschis' hypothesis that internet addiction can be prevented by social control factors. For this purpose, a survey questionnaire was constructed and...
The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of control factors on internet addiction, based on Hirschis' hypothesis that internet addiction can be prevented by social control factors. For this purpose, a survey questionnaire was constructed and distributed; the respondents who participated in this survey were 796 students from six middle and high schools in Suncheon and Yeosu city.
The survey shows that student's internet-addiction level is 64.91 on the average, and hazardous and potentially hazardous groups represented much lower 4.2% and 10.5% respectively. The whole student groups were subdivided into four segments to analyze and elucidate the effect of internet addiction. Of the four subgroups, two 25% groups at the highest and lowest addiction level were compared and analyzed to clarify group differences. The major findings of the study are;
First, most students get exposed to the internet for internet games, chatting, and obscene websites; found to have started using the internet in the second three years of the elementary school.
Second, a demographical analysis finds that ale students show a higher level of addiction to the internet than female students; higher graders tend to have a higher evel of addiction. Students' academic grades, however, show no significant correlation with internet addiction.
Third, higher graders prefer visiting obscene websites to internet chatting. Male students have higher preference to internet games and obscene internet sites.
Forth, students with higher levels of internet addiction are more likely to commit juvenile delinquency such as absenteeism, runaway, and sexual crimes.
When comparing the higher internet addiction group with the lower, social control factors have effects on the higher internet addiction group. Of the social control factors hypothesized in this study, attachment to school and belief are found, by regression analysis, to be statistically significant. This means that these two factors have the greatest effect on internet addiction among other social control factors suggested by Hirschi.
All these results suggest that greater attention should be paid to those students who suffer from maladjustment to school life and thus are outcast from educational system. It is also important for students to internalize the compliance with social norms and school regulations. This means that homes and schools should instill the importance of conforming to social norms. Some social intervention plans for the prevention and remedy of internet addiction are suggested based on he results of this study.
First, programs and environment should be provided so that students can have a strong affinity to school life and articipate actively in the realistic space of school as well as the cyberspace on the internet. To do this, efforts should be made to secure more facilities for physical and leisure activities in schools.
Second, schools should design and implement special programs that can prevent maladjusted and alienated students from etting addicted to the internet.
Third, big-brother programs and peer-group counselling programs are highly recommended so as to make students come out rom indulgence in the cyberspace and to help them form desirable self-identity in real spaces or off-line.
Forth, more efforts should be made by schools to convince students that a school is a place not merely for studies but also for ealthy hobbies and leisure time activities. To do this, appropriate facilities should be provided for students to participate more actively in club activities, hobbies, and leisure time activities.
This study is meaningful in that instead of dismissing the problem of internet addiction as individual students' or amilies' concern, it attempts to suggest a theoretical framework that approaches internet addiction on a broader, social evel, based on social control factors.