Association Between Internet Addiction And Alexithymia Among High Vocational College Students

Objective Based on the description of epidemic characteristics of IA and alexithymia among higher vocational college students, we analyze the association between IA and alexithymia in order to provide evidence for the intervention.Methods Three colleges’ students were recruited by cluster sampling from Anhui Province and use the IAT and TAS-20 questionnaire to evaluate the IA and alexithymia. The database was inputted by Epi Info 3.03 d. The data were analyzed by SPSS10.0 package. Statistical method included Pearson Chi-square, F test, Kappa value, and multivariate Logistic regression.Results The prevalence of IA was 8.3%, 13.0% for male and 6.2% for female with significant difference(P<0.001). There was significant difference in different university type, degree of obesity, city and countryside, whether one-child or not, parents’ expectation, relation with parents, degree of strict with himself, self-reported grades; The scores of TAS was 53.81±8.71, F1 was 18.26±5.12, F2 was 13.78±5.12, F3 was 21.77±3.13. There were significant differences on scores of TAS and factor scores in gender, age, personality, one child or not, relationship with parents,, self-reported grades and self-reported learning burdens. The scores on TAS and each factor of alexithymia in IA group was higher than that of no IA, but the TAS and F1 scores had statistical significance(t=-11.76,P<0.001;t=-9.17,P<0.001), The F2 and F3 score had no statistical significance. The scatter diagram showed that the scores of alexithymia increased with the scores of IA increased. There was a positive correlation between with them. The result of the model of multivariate Logistic regression reveals the students with alexithymia had the higher risk than that of no alexithymia after control the gender, age and other variables,(OR=3.85, 95% CI =2.93~5.07)Conclusion The IA was more common among higher vocational college students. The degree of alexithymia in IA students was higher than that of no IA students. There was close relationship with them. The students with alexithymia are the key population for the intervention of IA.