title: A study on the influence of internet addiction and online interpersonal influences on health-related quality of life in young Vietnamese.
abstract: Internet addiction (IA) is a common problem found in young Asians. This study aimed to study the influence of IA and online activities on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in young Vietnamese. This study also compared the frequencies of anxiety, depression and other addiction of young Vietnamese with and without IA.
  
  
  
  This study recruited 566 young Vietnamese (56.7% female, 43.3% male) ranging from 15 to 25 years of age via the respondent-driven sampling technique. Chi-squared, t-test and analysis of variance were used to compare young Vietnamese with and without IA. Regression analyses were used to examine the association between internet usage characteristics and HRQOL.
  
  
  
  Results from this cross-sectional study showed that 21.2% of participants suffered from IA. Online relationship demonstrated significantly higher influences on behaviors and lifestyles in participants with IA than those without IA. Participants with IA were more likely to have problems with self-care, difficulty in performing daily routine, suffer from pain and discomfort, anxiety and depression. Contrary to previous studies, we found that there were no differences in gender, sociodemographic, the number of participants with cigarette smoking, water-pipe smoking and alcohol dependence between the IA and non-IA groups. IA was significantly associated with poor HRQOL in young Vietnamese.
  
  
  
  IA is a common problem among young Vietnamese and the prevalence of IA is the highest as compared to other Asian countries. Our findings suggest that gender may not play a key role in IA. This can be an emerging trend when both genders have equal access to the internet. By studying the impact of IA on HRQOL, healthcare professionals can design effective intervention to alleviate the negative consequences of IA in Vietnam.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Hanoi Medical University, Hanoi, Vietnam.|Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Bach Xuan
authors.initials: BX
authors.lastname: Tran
authors.affiliation: Institute for Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Hanoi Medical University, Hanoi, Vietnam.
authors.forename: Le Thi
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Huong
authors.affiliation: Institute for Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Hanoi Medical University, Hanoi, Vietnam.
authors.forename: Nguyen Duc
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Hinh
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam.
authors.forename: Long Hoang
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.affiliation: Institute for Global Health Innovations, Duy Tan University, Da Nang, Vietnam.
authors.forename: Bao Nguyen
authors.initials: BN
authors.lastname: Le
authors.affiliation: Institute for Global Health Innovations, Duy Tan University, Da Nang, Vietnam. vuong.ighi@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Vuong Minh
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Nong
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology and Allergy, National Otolaryngology Hospital, Hanoi, Vietnam.
authors.forename: Vu Thi Minh
authors.initials: VT
authors.lastname: Thuc
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Viet-Duc Hospital, Hanoi, Vietnam.
authors.forename: Tran Dinh
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Tho
authors.affiliation: Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Carl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Latkin
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Global Institute of Healthcare Research & Technology (BIGHEART), National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Melvyn Wb
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Roger Cm
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Ho
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016739:Behavior, Addictive / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D011788:Quality of Life; D012648:Self Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014744:Vietnam / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Internet addiction; Interpersonal influences; Quality of life; Vietnam; Young people