Associations Between Internet Addiction and Gender, Anxiety, Coping Styles and Acceptance in University Freshmen in South China

Objective: Internet addiction (IA) has become a global public health issue. Although previous studies revealed several risk factors related to IA, most of them focused on the western societies. The present study assesses the relationships between gender and other factors with IA in university freshmen in the South China. Methods: A total of 3,380 first-year college students (1,995 males and 1,385 females) participated in an evaluation of their experiences surfing on the Internet. We investigated the severity of IA in the participants by considering their psychological characteristics, such as acceptance, anxiety levels, and coping styles. Then, we compared the results between males and females and between those in addiction group (Chinese Internet Addiction Scale, CIAS, scores≥64) and non-addiction group (CIAS scores ≤27). We also conducted a logistic regression analysis to detect the relationships between severity of IA and psychological characteristics and gender differences. Results: We observed that males showed significantly higher scores in CIAS than females. The addiction group exhibited significantly higher state anxiety and trait anxiety, and experienced less acceptance of self and others and acceptance by others, and adopted less positive coping style and preferred negative coping style than non-addiction group. The logistic regression analysis revealed that three factors (negative coping styles, acceptance of self and others, state anxiety levels) had a significant association with more severe IA. Conclusion: Gender differences affect the severity of IA in the first-year students in South China. Males with state anxiety and negative coping styles deserve attention because they are likely to be addicted to the Internet. Thus, health practitioners should perform efficient strategies while considering gender differences to precaution first-year college students with the risk factors for IA.