Life events and social support among college students with different types of internet addiction

Objective To investigate the difference of life events and social support among college students with different types of internet addiction. Methods 396 medical undergraduates were randomly selected as subjects by cluster sampling method. The Different Types of Internet Addiction Scale for Undergraduates, Social Support Scale and Adolescent Self-Rating Life Events Cheek List were used for assessment. Results There were significant differences between groups with higher and lower tendency of internet game addiction in the aspects of study pressure, punishment and others of life events (P＜0.05 or P＜0.01). In comparison with the lower tendency group of internet game addiction[(10.62±2.44), (22.85±3.46), (7.92±1.58) respectively], the higher tendency group had lower objective and subjective social support and availability[(9.36±2.53), (19.95±3.48), (7.30±1.02) respectively], the differences were statistically significant (P＜0.01). There were obvious difference between groups with higher and lower tendency of cyber-relationship addiction in all the aspects of life events (P＜0.05or P＜0.01). In comparison with the lower tendency group of cyber-relationship addiction[(10.66±2.14) and (23.12±3.18)], the higher tendency group had lower objective and subjective social support [(8.38±3.57) and (18.69±3.25)], the differences were statistically significant (P＜0.05 or P＜0.01). There were remarkable differences between groups with higher and lower tendency of information collection addiction only in the aspects of loss and others of life events (P＜0.05). In comparison with the lower tendency group of information collection addiction(22.87±2.98), the higher tendency group had lower subjective social support (21.75±3.33), the difference was statistically significant (P＜0.05). Conclusion Certain difference could be observed among college students with three different types of internet addiction. Key words: Internet game addiction;  Cyber-relationship addiction;  Information collection addiction;  Life events;  Social support