Within the context of the Project P.A.T.H.S., Prof. Daniel Shek and Dr Yu Lu of the Department of Applied Social Sciences conducted a study on internet addiction and its related psychosocial features.

Data were collected from students in 28 local secondary schools, 3,328 Secondary 1 students and 3,580 Secondary 2 students. At Secondary 1 and Secondary 2, 26.4% and 26.7% of the participants were identified as internet addicted, respectively.

Students who were classified as internet addicted reported more high risk behaviours than did their non-addicted peers. Analyses showed that those with better family interaction, academic and school performance, and positive youth development have fewer problems on internet addiction. The findings suggest that internet addiction is a growing issue and strengthening psychosocial competencies is a promising direction to address this issue.