title: Frequency of Internet addiction and development of social skills in adolescents in an urban area of Lima.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the frequency of Internet addiction and its relationship with the development of social skills in adolescents in the town of Condevilla, district of San Martin de Porres, Lima - Peru.
  
  
  METHODS
  The degree of social skills and level of internet use was evaluated in adolescents from 10 to 19 years of 5th to 11th grades in two secondary schools in the town of Condevilla. Classrooms were randomly selected, and the questionnaires were applied to all adolescents. Two questionnaires were applied: Scale for Internet Addiction of Lima to determine the extent of Internet use, and the Social Skills Test from the Ministry of Health of Peru, which evaluates self-esteem, assertiveness, communication and decision-making. The analyses by Chi2 test and Fisher's exact test, as well as a generalized linear model (GLM) were performed using the binomial family.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Both questionnaires were applied to 179 adolescents, of whom 49.2% were male. The main age was 13 years, 78.8% of which were in secondary school. Internet addiction was found in 12.9% of respondents, of whom the majority were male (78.3%, p = 0.003) and had a higher prevalence of low social skills (21.7%, p = 0.45). In multivariate analysis, the independent factors associated with Internet addiction were gender (p = 0.016) and to have low social skills compared to high social skills (p = 0.004).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In adolescents, there is a relationship between internet addiction and low social skills, among which the area of communication is statistically significant.
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Medicina Alberto Hurtado, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Perú; Hospital Nacional Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Perú. Address: Jr. Stephen Crane 130, Departamento 102, San Borja, Lima, Perú. Email: carlos.zegarra.z@upch.pe.
authors.forename: Carlos Orlando
authors.initials: CO
authors.lastname: Zegarra Zamalloa
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Medicina Alberto Hurtado, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Perú; Policlínico Juan José Rodríguez Lazo, Lima, Perú.
authors.forename: Maria Sofía
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Cuba Fuentes
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D016739:Behavior, Addictive / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D003142:Communication; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010568:Peru / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012649:Self Concept; D012737:Sex Factors; D066107:Social Skills; D013334:Students; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population; D055815:Young Adult
keywords:  internet;  social behavior; adolescent