Arab Educational Information Network

The main objective of the study was to identify differences between Internet addicts and nonaddicted adolescents in social anxiety and academic achievement. The final study sample consisted of (460) students from Kuwait University and the College of Basic Education; their ages ranged between (18-22) years, divided into two groups: the first group consisted of (100) students who were not addicted to the Internet, and the second group consisted of (360) students who used the Internet for more than four hours a day. The study's tools included the Social Anxiety Scale Abdul-Rahman and Abdul-Qasoud (1998), and the Internet Addiction Scale Al-Kandari and Al-Qasha`an, (2001). The results of the study concluded that there were statistically significant differences between Internet addicts and non-addicts in social anxiety in favor of Internet addicts. There were also statistically significant differences between Internet addicts and non-addicts in academic achievement in favor of those who were not addicted to the Internet. There were no statistically significant differences between married, single and separated Internet addicts in social anxiety and academic achievement. Also, there was no statistically significant differences between male and female Internet addicts in social anxiety. But there was a positive, correlation between the number of hours of Internet use and social anxiety at (0.01). While there was a negative correlation between the number of hours of Internet use and academic achievement at (0.01) level of significance. (Published abstract)