So what's your poison? Only one allowed

A group of students at Monash University in Australia have published a study on the links between internet dependence and problem gambling. The problems are similar but affect different groups of people.

173 university students were studied: 59 men and 114 woman, all aged between 18 and 50. 57% were single and 60% were born in Australia. Each participant was invited to fill in a questionnaire to determine their degree of dependence. Internet dependence was evaluated across 20 multiple choice questions, the options going from "never" to "always", and were attributed scores from 1 to 5. The overall totals therefore ranged from 20 to 100. Those with a final score of 20 to 49 were judged not to be dependent on the internet. 50 to 79: frequent problems, subject at risk. Over 80: dependent (the study was based on browsing frequency, quantity of messages posted, activity on instant messenger systems, downloading).

A similar questionnaire was set for gambling. This allowed the study to establish those groups dependent on either the internet or gambling or both.

Similar symptoms, but no crossover

According to the study, the psychological profiles of dependent students resembled each other. Depression, anxiety, stress, loneliness were the basic symptoms recorded with risk of excessive consumption and dependence. However, the results showed dependents choose their poison, either the internet or gambling, not both.

The dependent groups determined by the questionnaire showed no crossover. None of the 173 people studied was dependent on both. 4.7% of the test group were dependent or at risk of dependence on gambling and 9.5% were dependent or at risk of dependence on the internet, but these made up two distinct groups.

Twice as many dependent on the internet than on gambling (among the students studied)

Note that 18% of participants recorded spending more than 11 hours a week on the internet and 14% spent 11 hours or more on instant chat/messenging systems.

For more information we refer you to the study: Commonalities in the Psychological Factors Associated with Problem Gambling and Internet Dependence.

And you, dear reader, what's your level of internet dependence?

Personally, I have to admit, without having answered the questionnaire, that I'm internet dependent. What about you? How long do you spend each week browsing, mailing, chatting, posting messages on social networking sites and forums, online gaming, downloading...


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