Internet addiction among urban and rural primary and high school students in Liaoning province, 2017: a comparison analysis

  Objective  To explore urban-rural difference in the prevalence of internet addiction among primary and high school students.

  Methods  We conducted a questionnaire survey among 4 251 urban and 3 881 rural primary and high school students recruited with stratified cluster random sampling in Liaoning province in September 2017.

  Results  Among the primary and junior high school students, the reported prevalence rate of internet addiction was significantly higher among rural boys than among the urban boys (3.57% vs. 0.89% for primary school students and 9.04% vs. 4.10% for junior high school students, both P < 0.001) but there were no significant differences in the rate between rural and urban girls (1.77% vs. 1.36% for primary school students and 4.08% vs. 3.55% for junior high school students, both P > 0.05); whereas among the senior high school students, the rural girls reported a significantly lower prevalence rate of internet addiction than the urban girls (4.44% vs. 9.54%, P < 0.001) but the rural and urban boys reported a similar prevalence rate (7.67% vs. 7.22%, P > 0.05).

  Conclusion  The self reported prevalence rate of internet addiction is higher among rural boys than among urban boys for primary and junior high school students, but lower among rural girls than among urban girls for senior high school students and the rate is not different between rural and urban girls among primary and junior high school students and between rural and urban boys for senior high school students in Liaoning province. The results need to be concerned in developing relevant interventions.