A Comparative Study of Social Adjustment and Academic Achievement in Internet-User and Internet-Non-User Students

The aim of this study was to compare social adjustment and academic achievement in two groups of students: users and non-users of the internet. The research method was sectional-comparative. The population of the study was all 16-17-year-old internet-user and internet-non-user high school students in 2014. The subjects of the research were 400 male and female high school students in Tehran. Non-user students were selected through stratified sampling method and users were selected using matching sampling (same range of age, gender and socioeconomic status). The instruments used in this study were the adjustment inventory for high school students (AISS) and a researcher-made questionnaire for assessing demographic characteristics. To measure the students’ academic achievement, their averages of the first and second semesters were compared. Data analysis was conducted using the t test and one way analysis (ANOVA). The results showed that there were significant differences between the two groups in academic achievement. This means that user students achieved higher marks in school. But, no significant difference was observed between the groups in social adjustment. Also results of ANOVA showed the effect of computer use on academic achievement is the same in both male and female students and in both group increase academic achievement. These findings have important implications for planners and educational administrators about teaching students how to use the Internet.