Stéphanie Laconi

The measurement of Internet addiction

We present an exhaustive review of existing Internet addiction scales.Fourty-five tools assessing Internet addiction were identified.Most of the existing scales for Internet addiction require further validation work.We discuss the psychometric properties of the most validated ones. Internet addiction is a recently recognized disorder which has received increasing attention worldwide over the past two decades. This focus has led to the development of several screening tools measuring different aspects of Internet use, and more particularly Internet addiction. However, a synthesis of the information regarding the validity and usefulness of these different scales is lacking and would help inform researchers and clinicians in their choice of measures when assessing for Internet addiction. The main goal of this study was therefore to identify all the existing measures of Internet addiction and to review the psychometric properties of the most frequently used ones. Five electronic databases were searched using the key words: internet use disorder, Internet addiction, problematic internet use, pathologic internet use, cyber dependence, and scale, test, questionnaire, tool, assessment and inventory. Forty-five tools assessing Internet addiction were identified, of which only seventeen had been evaluated more than once in terms of their psychometric properties. Most of the existing scales for Internet addiction require further validation work but some of them already demonstrate promising psychometric properties. Given the interest in this phenomenon, it seems important for the field to promote the use of validated and well-established measures.

Internet Addiction Symptoms, Disordered Eating, and Body Image Avoidance

Internet addiction is an increasing concern among young adults. Self-presentational theory posits that the Internet offers a context in which individuals are able to control their image. Little is known about body image and eating concerns among pathological Internet users. The aim of this study was to explore the association between Internet addiction symptoms, body image esteem, body image avoidance, and disordered eating. A sample of 392 French young adults (68 percent women) completed an online questionnaire assessing time spent online, Internet addiction symptoms, disordered eating, and body image avoidance. Fourteen men (11 percent) and 26 women (9.7 percent) reported Internet addiction. Body image avoidance was associated with Internet addiction symptoms among both genders. Controlling for body-mass index, Internet addiction symptoms, and body image avoidance were both significant predictors of disordered eating among women. These findings support the self-presentational theory of Internet addiction and suggest that body image avoidance is an important factor.

Differences between specific and generalized problematic Internet uses according to gender, age, time spent online and psychopathological symptoms

Some specific problematic Internet uses present a great impact on generalized problematic Internet use.Gender and age play an important role on problematic Internet uses.This study revives debate on the distinction between generalized and specific problematic Internet uses. Internet addiction has been the subject of numerous studies, but definitions, classification and terminologies for this phenomenon diverge. Thus, it appears important to distinguish Generalized Problematic Internet Use (GPIU) and Specific Problematic Internet Uses (SPIU). Our main objective was to explore the relationships between GPIU, SPIU and psychopathological symptoms according to gender and age category. A sample of 378 participants aged between 18 and 65years old (M=24.4, SD=8.3) completed a set of questionnaires measuring GPIU, SPIU related to communication, video and music, information seeking, work, sex, gaming, gambling, shopping, and time spent online, depressive symptoms, self-esteem and satisfaction with life. Correlations and regressions analysis revealed significant relationships between GPIU and our variables, except for SPIUgambling, with many differences between males and females and between adults and young adults. SPIUcom was a significant predictor of GPIU among our four groups, SPIUinfo, SPIUgaming and depressive symptoms were significant among women, men and young adults, and SPIUvideo and time spent online were also significant among women and young adults. To our knowledge, this study is the first to explore so many SPIU, particularly in a sample of French adults. More important, our results contribute to the advance of the field of PIU by highlighting differences between each PIU, variables that should be seriously considered in future research.

Utilisation problématique d’Internet, temps passé en ligne et traits de personnalité

BACKGROUND Internet addiction or problematic Internet use is a recent and increasingly recognized disorder which has been consistently associated with many psychiatric disorders, adding to the documented negative consequences of problematic Internet use. However, very few studies have examined the relationship between problematic Internet use and personality traits and none in a French sample. Moreover, those which have evaluated this relationship have mainly been conducted on small samples. OBJECTIVE The main goal of our study was to explore the relationship between problematic Internet use, time spent online and personality traits in a French sample, taking into account the presence of depressive symptoms, and gender. METHODS A sample of 276 participants aged from 18 to 50 (M=28; SD=8.9) completed a questionnaire assessing problematic Internet use, time spent online, the presence of ten personality traits and depressive symptoms. RESULTS Our results revealed significant differences between genders. Among men, problematic Internet use was associated with personality clusters A and B while in women no cluster or personality traits were associated. Time spent online was predicted by schizoid personality traits among men and avoidant personality traits among women. DISCUSSION Our results indicate that cluster A (schizoid and schizotypal) and cluster B traits (borderline and antisocial) play a more important role in problematic Internet use than cluster C traits among men. Differences between men and women regarding the relationships between personality traits, time online and problematic Internet use may be related to differences in the activities engaged in by men and women online. We observed that communication websites use was more prevalent among women while erotic, gambling and shopping websites use was more prevalent among men suggesting that the characteristics of problematic Internet use may vary according to gender. CONCLUSION Few studies have examined the relationship between problematic Internet use, time spent online and personality traits, and none among a French sample. These results suggest the importance of assessing the impact of personality traits on Internet use, particularly on time spent online, by differentiating results in terms of gender and online activities.

Religious Beliefs, PTSD, Depression and Resilience in Survivors of the 2010 Haiti Earthquake

BACKGROUND This study examines relationships between religious beliefs regarding the origin of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and posttraumatic symptomatology as well as depressive symptoms and resilience among its survivors. METHOD We used convenient sampling to recruit participants (n=167). They completed six scales, which had been translated into Haitian Creole, including measures such as the Earthquake Experiences Exposure (EEE), the Peritraumatic Distress Inventory (PDI), the Peritraumatic Dissociative Experience Questionnaire (PDEQ), the PTSD Checklist (PTSD-CL), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD- RISC) RESULTS: Among our participants, 51% were male, (mean age=30.5, SD=11.03), 92% (n=155) were believers in some sort of supernatural force and 65% (n=108) endorsed the earthquake as a natural phenomenon. There was significant difference in average scores at peritraumatic distress, PTSD symptoms and Resilience measures between those perceiving a divine origin and/or a punishment through the event and those who did not. Peritraumatic responses were best predictors for PTSD (β=.366, p<.001) and Depression symptoms (β=.384, p<.001). Voodoo adherents appeared to be vulnerable to depression, but reported superior resilience factors.

Problematic internet use, psychopathology, personality, defense and coping

Many international studies in the field of Internet use and Problematic Internet Use (PIU) have shown strong and frequent relationships with psychopathology. However, few researches have investigated the relationships between PIU and personality variables such as defense, coping and pathological traits. The aim of the present study was to explore the rate of PIU among French users and its relationships with psychopathological (depressive symptoms, self-esteem, pathological personality traits) and psychological variables (defense mechanisms and coping strategies). A sample of 786 participants, aged between 18 and 35 years old (M=23.7; SD=4.5) has been recruited online and completed several scales assessing PIU, time spent online, socio demographic, psychological and psychopathological variables. More than 20% of the sample had PIU. Compared to non-problematic users, they had significant higher scores of all personality disorder clusters, non-adaptive coping and depressive symptoms. Among the total sample, PIU was predicted by Clusters B and C personality traits, immature and autistic fantasy defense styles, non-adaptive coping strategies and depressive symptoms. Significant gender differences have been retrieved. Psychological and psychopathological variables, including personality traits should be further explored, and gender differences always taken into account when assessing PIU. The prevalence of problematic Internet use was 20.5%.It was predicted by personality traits, defense, coping and depressive symptoms.Significant gender differences have been found in terms of related psychopathology.

Contribution of health motive to cannabis use among high-school students

The Marijuana Motives Measure (MMM), which is derived from a scale measuring alcohol use motives, has been the main instrument used to explore the role of motives in cannabis use and related problems. Two studies attempted to developed specific cannabis use motives but none of them showed a unique association to cannabis use and problems when controlling for MMM motives. The aim of our study was to examine if additional motives contributed to problematic use beyond MMM motives and psychopathological symptoms. Participants were 249 high-school students who completed the Cannabis Use Disorder Identification Test-Revised (CUDIT-R) assessing cannabis use and problematic use, the MMM and a new scale measuring motives derived from clinical experience with adolescents using cannabis (CED motives), and scales measuring anxiety and depressive symptoms and borderline personality traits. Among the 107 participants using cannabis, 39 reached the cut-off score for problematic cannabis use. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses controlling for psychopathological variables showed that only one CED motives, Health (sleep, form, energy, appetite, health), was a significant predictor of both frequency of use and problematic use symptoms. The importance of Health motive may be linked to the role of depressive symptoms and may have implication for treatment. We suggest to add the Health subscale to the MMM and to further study the role of health motive in both use and dependence.

The Generalized Problematic Internet Use Scale-2 in a French sample: Psychometric evaluation of the theoretical model

OBJECTIVES The Generalized Problematic Internet Use Scale-2 (GPIUS-2) is a short self-report questionnaire assessing Internet addiction based on a cognitive behavioral model. Our main goal was to evaluate the psychometric properties of its French version among a sample of students and to appraise the relevance of the generalized problematic Internet use model. METHODS A sample of 563 university students aged between 18 and 35 years (M=20.8; SD=2.7) completed several online self-report questionnaires including the GPIUS-2, the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) and the Center for Epidemiologic Study-Depression scale (CES-D). RESULTS Confirmatory Factorial Analyses revealed a poor but acceptable overall fit for the original five-factor model and the original four-factor model. Path analyses, testing Structural Equation Modeling provided showed a poor fit to the data, suggesting insufficient construct validity. Convergent and concurrent validities analyzed through correlational analyses revealed significant relationships between the GPIUS-2, its factors, the IAT, time spent online and the CES-D. CONCLUSIONS This research highlights the insufficient psychometric properties of the GPIUS-2 in a French sample, similar to previous results. However, this French version appears to be a useful multidimensional tool for assessing problematic Internet use among students, and reveals promise for future research and clinical applications of the measure, given its solid theoretical basis and despite the results of this psychometric study.