Abstract:
Objective To understand the mental health status of Yan'an high school students with internet addition disorder (IAD), and to provide basis for psychological intervention.
Methods A psychological assessment was carried out with Young's Internet Addiction Scale, Symptom Check List-90 (SCL-90), Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) among 750 students selected from a high school by stratified and cluster sampling.
Results The IAD prevalence rate of the students was 32.49%, and no significant differences were found between boys and girls. All the average scores of SCL-90 factors were higher in the IAD students than the normal ones (t=3.14-4.47, P<0.01); the detection rates of IAD were in the range of 37.39%-72.17%; the detection rates of factor scores ≥ 3 were in the range of 6.09%-21.74%; all these detection rates were higher than those of normal ones (χ2=3.93-38.47, P<0.05). The SAS score was higher in the IAD students than in the normal ones by nearly 5 points, and both the detection rates of IAD and medium and severe depression were higher in the IAD students. The same results were shown in SDS survey.
Conclusion The mental health level is lower among IAD students than normal ones. Therefore, joint effort and support from the students themselves, family, school, and society are needed for IAD intervention.