title: Purposes of Internet use and problematic Internet use among Turkish high school students.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  After the emergence of the Internet, the sudden increase in its use soon attracted attention to this phenomenon. Studies have shown that there is a relationship between problematic Internet use (PIU) and the purposes of Internet use.
  
  
  METHODS
  The aims of this study are to examine the purposes of Internet use among Turkish high school students according to their gender, frequency of Internet use (FIU), grade point average (GPA) and family income (F-income), and to investigate whether all these variables predict PIU. The participants in the study were 375 high school students (185 girls and 190 boys), and verbal consent was obtained from the subjects before application. The participants' ages ranged between 14 and 18 (Mean = 15.6, SD = 1.26). One-way analysis of variance was used to identify the purposes of Internet use in terms of demographic variables. Also, hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to explore whether demographic variables and purposes of Internet use affected PIU.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Finally, the results demonstrate that male gender, high FIU, low GPA, and high levels of F-income correlate significantly with PIU. Also, the social, leisure and virtual-emotional purposes of Internet use, besides demographic variables, were significantly correlated with PIU.
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Education & Instructional Technology, Suleyman Demirel University, Isparta, Turkey.
authors.forename: Veysel
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Demirer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Counseling and Guidance, Suleyman Demirel University, Isparta, Turkey. bahadirbozoglan@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Bahadir
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bozoglan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D016739:Behavior, Addictive / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Turkish high school student; problematic Internet use; purpose of internet use