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Risk Factors of Addictive Internet Use Among Rural Chinese Adolescents: from a Cumulative Risk Perspective

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Abstract

The objective of this study was to examine the risk factor of addictive Internet use from a cumulative risk perspective among rural Chinese adolescents. This was a cross-sectional study. A total of 1489 adolescents from three high schools in Henan Province participated in this study. The results showed that (1) the prevalence of addictive Internet use among rural Chinese adolescents was 11.8%; (2) male, depression, disharmonious family climate, parents’ divorce, poor teacher-student relationship, and poor neighborhood sanitation were risk factors; and (3) the prevalence of addictive Internet use increased from 3.4 to 45.8% as the number of risk factors increased from 0 to 5. Regression analysis indicated that experiencing ≥ 2 risk factors predicted addictive Internet use significantly. And the result of trend analysis with addictive Internet use as the dichotomous dependent variable shows that the increasing trend was statistically significant (p < 0.001). There is a cumulative risk effect of these factors on addictive Internet use. We hope our findings will contribute to identifying high-risk adolescents and multilevel preventions and interventions on addictive Internet use among rural Chinese adolescents, thus promoting their development.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Chun Ran and Jiadi Hou for their contributions to data collection.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Social Science Foundation [grant numbers 16BSH100].

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Author notes

  1. Yiqing Wang and Ling Jiang contributed equally to this work and should be considered co-first authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Development and Public Policy, Bei**g Normal University, No.19 **n Jie Kou Wai Street, Bei**g, 100875, People’s Republic of China

    Yiqing Wang, Ling Jiang, Qinian Chen & **aohua Wang

  2. No.1 Senior High School, Hua County, Henan Province, 456400, People’s Republic of China

    Tingting **g

  3. School of Management, Bei**g University of Chinese Medicine, Bei**g, 100029, People’s Republic of China

    Shuang Ma

  4. School of Public Health, Peking University, Bei**g, 100191, People’s Republic of China

    **g Guo

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  1. Yiqing Wang
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Contributions

Yiqing Wang And Ling Jiang were responsible for the analysis and interpretation of data, drafted the first version of the manuscript, and critically revised the manuscript; **aohua Wang designed this study and conceived this paper; Shuang Ma, **g Guo, Tingting **g, and Qinian Chen provided critical revisions of the manuscript for important intellectual content and approved the final manuscript; and all authors approved the final manuscript as submitted and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

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Correspondence to **aohua Wang.

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Wang, Y., Jiang, L., **g, T. et al. Risk Factors of Addictive Internet Use Among Rural Chinese Adolescents: from a Cumulative Risk Perspective. Int J Ment Health Addiction 22, 1357–1375 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-022-00930-x

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