Computer Addiction Assessment for Primary School Children Test

How the Scales are Structured
Who Usually Takes This Test?
See How You Compare
Below is a preview of how scores are typically distributed across each scale.
Example Questions From the Test
- Every day
- Every other day
- When there is nothing else to do
- 3 hours or more
- 2 hours
- Up to 1 hour
- You do
- Sometimes you do, sometimes the child does
- The child does it independently
Computer Addiction Assessment for Primary School Children Test - Description and methodology of the test
For parents who want to understand a child's computer use, the Computer Addiction Assessment for Primary School Children Test offers a focused way to examine whether gaming is becoming unusually central, difficult to limit, or disruptive. In this computer addiction test for primary school children, the questions help organize everyday observations into a clearer starting point for discussing routines, stopping rules, and how the child uses free time.
What This Assessment Explores
Parents can use this questionnaire to examine computer use as a recurring pattern, not one long session. Its items cover play frequency and duration, who ends the session, how free time is spent, interference with school or other activities, and involvement with games.
The questionnaire functions as a primary school computer addiction assessment and gives one overall interpretation rather than separate trait scores. The Computer Addiction scale ranges from 7-21. The displayed bands are No risk (7-11), Predisposition (12-17), and Clearly expressed addiction (18-21). They summarize symptom severity and support prevention or early attention, rather than defining the child.
The result draws on three practical groupings:
- Frequency and duration show how much computer play occupies daily life.
- Self-regulation shows whether stopping is adult-led or independent.
- Displacement and salience show whether gaming pushes aside school, chores, outdoor activity, or other interests.
Methodology and Scientific Basis
The seven items are addressed to a parent and use three ordered answer choices. The choices describe progressively less or more concerning patterns, from limited involvement and independent stopping to frequent play, adult control, or interference with important activities. Responses are combined into one overall result; the questionnaire does not present separate subscale scores.
For families using this as a computer addiction assessment for children, the format is most useful when the parent answers from repeated everyday observations rather than from one unusually busy or conflict-filled day. It captures behavior, time allocation, control, interference, and salience, helping organize a practical discussion about routines and boundaries.
The questionnaire is conceptually consistent with the 2022 Pisarev Parent Computer Addiction Test and with Kimberly S. Young's early work on problematic internet use; it is not an adaptation of either source. Parent reports can be shaped by memory, expectations, and current circumstances, so interpret the displayed bands as parent-reported indications of symptom severity and consider the behaviors behind the result. Read these indications alongside answers about time, stopping, free-time choices, and missed activities.
- Rubtsova, O. V., Shpagina, E. M., Shvedovskaya, A. A., & Dvoryanchikov, N. V. (Eds.). (2024). Risks in the Digital Environment: Diagnostics, Prevention, Correction (Section 4.2.2: Parent Test for Assessing Computer Addiction in Primary School Children by V. G. Pisarev, 2022). Moscow: Center for Global IT Cooperation. ISBN 978-5-6053008-0-9.
- Young, K. S. (1998). Internet Addiction: The Emergence of a New Clinical Disorder. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 1(3), 237-244. 10.1089/cpb.1998.1.237
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