Internet Addiction: A Review of Current Assessment Techniques and Potential Assessment Questions
Abstract
The concept of Internet addiction has been proposed as an explanation for uncontrollable and damaging use of the Internet. Symptoms of excessive Internet use have been compared to the criteria used to diagnose other addictions such as pathological gambling. Although criteria to diagnose this problem have been proposed, methods of assessing excessive Internet use are limited. A structured interview based on the criteria proposed by Beard and Wolf is proposed to aid in the assessment of "Internet addiction." This, in turn, could aid in the diagnosis and intervention of a client who enters treatment reporting difficulties with excessive Internet use.
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Studies estimating the prevalence of Internet addiction in the general population are uncommon.
“Prevalence studies of Internet addiction in the general population are rare.”
From Occurence of Internet addiction in a general population sample: A Latent Class Analysis (2014) · cites this paper as [11]
Only two studies have used general population samples to estimate Internet addiction.
“Only two studies used general population samples.”
From Occurence of Internet addiction in a general population sample: A Latent Class Analysis (2014) · cites this paper as [11]
Only two studies on prevalence estimates have used a general population approach.
“Only two studies on prevalence estimates have used a general population approach.”
From Occurence of Internet addiction in a general population sample: A Latent Class Analysis (2014) · cites this paper as [11]
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- Authors
- Beard, K. W.
- Affiliations
- Marshall University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Beard, Keith W.
- ORCID
- Beard, Keith W.
- Venue
- CyberPsychology & Behavior
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2005-02
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 7-14
- ISSN
- 1094-9313 (ISSN-L)
- 1557-8364
- OpenAlex
- W2092083003
- Cited by
- 487
- References
- 40
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 29 · 2022: 31 · 2021: 32 · 2020: 63 · 2019: 24 · 2018: 19 · 2017: 22 · 2016: 25 · 2015: 31 · 2014: 23 · 2013: 27 · 2012: 37
- FWCI
- 43.73
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- CyberPsychology & Behavior (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Gambling Behavior and Treatments
- Keywords
- internet addiction, excessive internet use, assessment instruments, structured interviews, diagnostic criteria, gambling addiction, addiction diagnosis, therapeutic interventions
- MeSH terms
- Humans, Interview, Psychological, Surveys and Questionnaires, Behavior, Addictive, Internet
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