Clinical Usefulness of a Short Version of the Internet Addiction Test to Screen for Probable Internet Addiction in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Masaru Tateno (), Kazumasa Horie, Tomohiro Shirasaka, Kotaro Nanba, Eri Shiraishi, Yukie Tateno and Takahiro A. Kato
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Masaru Tateno: Tokiwa Child Development Center, Tokiwa Hospital, Tokiwa 3-1-6-1, Minami-ku, Sapporo 0050853, Japan
Kazumasa Horie: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Maidashi 3-1-1, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 8128582, Japan
Tomohiro Shirasaka: Department of Psychiatry, Teine Keijinkai Medical Center, Maeda 1-12-1-40, Teine-ku, Sapporo 0060811, Japan
Kotaro Nanba: Tokiwa Child Development Center, Tokiwa Hospital, Tokiwa 3-1-6-1, Minami-ku, Sapporo 0050853, Japan
Eri Shiraishi: Tokiwa Child Development Center, Tokiwa Hospital, Tokiwa 3-1-6-1, Minami-ku, Sapporo 0050853, Japan
Yukie Tateno: Tokiwa Child Development Center, Tokiwa Hospital, Tokiwa 3-1-6-1, Minami-ku, Sapporo 0050853, Japan
Takahiro A. Kato: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Maidashi 3-1-1, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 8128582, Japan

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 5, 1-10

Abstract: Internet addiction (IA) is defined as the condition of being addicted to all sorts of activities on the Internet. Individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD), may be susceptible to IA. Early detection and intervention for probable IA are important to prevent severe IA. In this study, we investigated the clinical usefulness of a short version of the Internet Addiction Test (s-IAT) for the screening of IA among autistic adolescents. The subjects were 104 adolescents with a confirmed diagnosis of ASD. They were requested to answer 20 questions from the original Internet Addiction Test (IAT). In the data analysis process, we comparatively calculated the sum of scores to the 12 questions of s-IAT. In total, 14 of the 104 subjects were diagnosed as having IA based on the face-to-face clinical interview that was regarded as the gold standard. Statistical analysis suggested that the optimal cut-off for s-IAT was at 35. When we applied the cut-off of 70 on the IAT, only 2 of 14 subjects (14.3%) with IA were screened positive, whereas 10 (71.4%) of them were screened by using the cut-off point of 35 on s-IAT. The s-IAT might be useful for the screening of IA in adolescents with ASD.

Keywords: internet addiction; problematic internet use; gaming disorder; behavioral addiction; internet addiction test; autism spectrum disorder; attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; neurodevelopmental disorders (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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