A Meta-Analysis of Internet Addiction Prevalence Among Iranian Youth From 2006-2016



Kheradmand A¹ ; Zamani BE² ; Hedayati N³ Show Affiliations
Source: Progress in Education Published:2018

Abstract

The spread of new communicational technologies such as computers, Internet, and cell phones have had both positive and negative effects on our lives. Many researchers from different countries have been working on positive and negative effects of using these new technologies. Analyzing these studies will indicate that how much youths use these technologies and what negative effects they experience by using them. The method for analyzing the data is meta-analysis with Hunter and Schmidt approach. We included all research that have been done by Iranian researchers during past ten years from 2006 till 2016. This time period was selected because of the high prevalence of youths' addiction to these technologies. Studies with acceptable methodologies with regard to inclusion and exclusion criteria were selected. Our data collection form for extracting information, included different parts: A) general information such as; the date of completing the form, the name of person extracting data, reference citation, author contact details, and publication type. B) Study eligibility part included the inclusion criteria for determining eligible research; C) Study characteristics such as the title and the type of research, the author, the place and date of publication. D) Participants and methodology, E) Results included summary of the studies' results. After collecting the data, the researcher calculated effect size and interpreted it based on the metaanalysis approach and Cohen's table. Findings of this meta-analysis indicated that the prevalence of addiction to new technologies among Iranian Youths were increasing during one decade. In addition, it indicated the effect size of pathological health problems such as physical, mental, social, and students' performance and academic achievement deficiencies due to addiction to new technologies. These later results are not included in this article. The results regarding pathological health problems will be published later. In this article, we focus on the epidemiology of internet addiction among Iranian young people. The results of this study could be used by developing countries' such as Iran for acquainting parents, policy makers, administrators of high schools and universities, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Higher Education, and all educational and cultural planners. © 2018 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.