The pilot study, conducted by Mubarak Ali of Flinders University in Adelaide, focused on 114 government and private school students across a broad socio-economic range.

The nature and validity of the so-called Internet addiction is hotly debated by psychiatrists and psychologists but Ali, a mental health expert, said it appears to be following a similar pattern to gambling.

“Psychological addictions are caused by wanting to hang onto or enhance positive feelings and stimuli, like winning in gambling, playing computer games or projecting whatever personality you like in a chat room,” Ali was quoted by The Sydney Morning Herald, as saying.

Seven per cent of the children aged 13 to 17 described themselves as “becoming addicted” to the Internet and other 26 per cent said they used it every day and considered it “an important part of their lives”.

Ali said teenagers also reported an alarming lack of parental supervision, including very low use of Net-filter software, mainly due to a technological generation gap. Under 7 per cent of the boys reported parental concern over their chat room participation, compared with almost 40 per cent of the girls’ parents.

“This is despite the fact that a chat room is anonymous and all the weaknesses of human beings can be played out inside it without any restrictions, including ... humiliating or embarrassing photos and gossip,” he said.