Journal of Addiction Research & Therapy
Open Access

Research Article

Internet Use and its Correlation with Psychiatric Symptoms - Results of an Online Survey Based on Psychometric Risk Profiles of the German Version of the "Compulsive Internet Use Scale"

¹University Hospital of Tuebingen, Dept. of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Research Section for Addiction, Germany

²University Hospital of Tuebingen, Dept. of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy in Childhood and Adolescence, Germany

³IVO, Addiction Research Institute, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

⁴This article is part of the MD – thesis of the second author

Corresponding Author:

Dr. Svenja Steffen
University Hospital of Tuebingen
Dept. of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
Calwerstr, 14, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany
Tel: +49-7071 - 2980922
Fax: +49-7071 - 294141
E-mail: svenja.steffen@med.uni-tuebingen.de

Received date: July 29, 2014; Accepted date: October 13, 2014; Published date: October 17, 2014

Citation: Peukert P, Steffen S, Meyer VO, Barth GM, Schlipf S et al. (2014) Internet Use and its Correlation with Psychiatric Symptoms – Results of an Online Survey Based on Psychometric Risk Profiles of the German Version of the “Compulsive Internet Use Scale”. J Addict Res Ther 5:199. doi:10.4172/2155-6105.1000199

Copyright: © 2014 Peukert P, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Aims: Increased co-morbidity rates of affective and anxiety disorders as well as ADHD have been reported in the context of excessive and addictive internet use. The “Compulsive Internet Use Scale" (CIUS) provides a promising conceptualization for the assessment of compulsive internet use behaviour. The aim of the present study was the investigation of psychopathological abnormalities in a student’s sample with high values on the CIUS within the scope of an online survey in a cross-sectional design.

Participants: N=2,506 German students of the University of Tuebingen participated in the online survey. Based on CIUS-values students were divided into two subgroups, with high values (CIUS group, N=90, CIUS > 28), and low values (control group, N = 90).

Measurements: In addition to the CIUS, depressive and manic episodes, quality of life and psychopathological abnormalities were explored.

Findings: Participants with high CIUS-values showed increased depressive and manic affect profiles, lower quality of life and augmented difficulties in coping with study requirements compared to the control group. Furthermore, the high scorers reported more depressive episodes, anxiety disorders, ADHD and suicidal ideation in their lifetime.

Conclusion: Compulsive internet use is related to increased psychopathological abnormalities current and lifetime.

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