JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Research on problematic Internet use has focused on devising diagnostic criteria or describing the factors that influence Internet overuse. However, a paradigm shift is necessary in studying the phenomenon of increased Internet use not just from a pathological point of view, but also from a developmental point of view that considers children’s behavior of adapting to a technology-oriented society.

Objective:

In this paper, we propose the “Cyclic Value-Context Reinforcement Model” (CVCRM) to understand problematic Internet use behavior. The purpose of our study is to construct a developmental process model that provides a holistic understanding of problematic Internet use behavior of children, and to validate the proposed model by conducting a thematic analysis on actual counseling data.

Methods:

To validate the Cyclic Value-Context Reinforcement Model, we conducted a thematic analysis using the counseling data of 312 Korean children aged 7-18 years. For the coding process, seven master’s and doctoral student researchers participated as coders and two professors supervised the coding process and results.

Results:

The CVCRM integrates existing theoretical approaches and encompasses the three interacting aspects that induce and reinforce problematic Internet use in children: psychosocial value, environmental context, and Internet utility. Specifically, using counselling data of 312 children, we empirically ascertained that problematic Internet use behavior feeds into children’s psychosocial values and environmental contexts, which in turn facilitates problematic Internet use in a cyclical manner.

Conclusions:

Through this empirical validation, the CVCRM can provide a theoretical framework and an integrated perspective on the developmental mechanism of problematic Internet use behavior of children.