A Comparative Study of Internet Addiction between the United States and China

Abstract This study explored Internet addiction among university students in China and the United States to develop a better understanding of Internet addiction in a cross-national setting. Three hundred fourteen respondents were evaluated on 10 Internet addiction symptoms and five Internet addiction dimensions: negative outcomes, social escape, secretive behavior, virtual intimacy, and obsessive-compulsive behavior. The results indicate that Chinese students experience a higher rate of Internet addiction than their U.S. counterparts. Additionally, gender was found to be significantly related to Internet addiction for both the U.S. and Chinese sample, while Internet experience was found to not be significantly related to Internet addiction. We conclude that Internet addiction may result as an artifact of the stage of Internet adoption within a society.