A Study to Estimate the Prevalence of Internet Addiction and Factors Associated With Internet Addiction among the College Students in North Chennai
Authors/Creators
- 1. Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Government Stanley Medical College, Chennai-01
- 2. Post graduate, Department of Community Medicine, Government Stanley Medical College, Chennai-01
- 3. Professor and Head, Department of Community Medicine, Government Stanley Medical College, Chennai-01
- 4. Final Year MBBS Phase Ⅰ, Department of Community Medicine, Government Stanley Medical College, Chennai-01
Description
Background: The internet is now an integral part of daily life, making it easy to communicate and to share information. However, spending too much online can lead to Internet addiction causing anxiety, functional impairment, and health issues like lack of sleep from extended hours spent chatting, gaming and social media use. Aim: To estimate the prevalence of internet addiction and to assess various factors associated with internet addiction among college students in Chennai. Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 110 college going students in a selected college in North Chennai between August to November-2023 (3 months) through simple random sampling using validated pretested structured questionnaire by face-face interview consisting of Standard Young’s Internet Addiction test questionnaire (IAT). Data was entered in Microsoft Excel and analysed in SPSS 23 version. p value <0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: In our study among 110 participants, the mean total score for internet addiction was 49.86±13.38. Only 7.3% of participants showed no signs of internet addiction, while 37.3% had mild addiction, 54.5% had moderate addiction, and 0.9% had severe addiction. Significant associations were found between internet addiction and factors such as gender, mode of internet usage, internet expense and earning money for internet access. Conclusion: The study found high internet addiction prevalence, with significant associations between addiction levels and gender, internet usage mode, expense, and earning own money.
Abstract (English)
Background: The internet is now an integral part of daily life, making it easy to communicate and to share information. However, spending too much online can lead to Internet addiction causing anxiety, functional impairment, and health issues like lack of sleep from extended hours spent chatting, gaming and social media use. Aim: To estimate the prevalence of internet addiction and to assess various factors associated with internet addiction among college students in Chennai. Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 110 college going students in a selected college in North Chennai between August to November-2023 (3 months) through simple random sampling using validated pretested structured questionnaire by face-face interview consisting of Standard Young’s Internet Addiction test questionnaire (IAT). Data was entered in Microsoft Excel and analysed in SPSS 23 version. p value <0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: In our study among 110 participants, the mean total score for internet addiction was 49.86±13.38. Only 7.3% of participants showed no signs of internet addiction, while 37.3% had mild addiction, 54.5% had moderate addiction, and 0.9% had severe addiction. Significant associations were found between internet addiction and factors such as gender, mode of internet usage, internet expense and earning money for internet access. Conclusion: The study found high internet addiction prevalence, with significant associations between addiction levels and gender, internet usage mode, expense, and earning own money.
Files
IJPCR,Vol16,Issue8,Article156.pdf
Files
(422.2 kB)
| Name | Size | Download all |
|---|---|---|
|
md5:415318ed028c745b75ef7cb1246ca72c
|
422.2 kB | Preview Download |
Additional details
Dates
- Accepted
-
2024-07-26
Software
- Repository URL
- https://impactfactor.org/PDF/IJPCR/16/IJPCR,Vol16,Issue8,Article156.pdf
- Development Status
- Active
References
- 1. Kumari MP, Kommisetty V, M.Sakthivel, Sujini, Kommisetty V. A Study on Prevalence of Internet Addiction Among Students Of A Private Medical College, Kanchipuram. J Pharm Negat Results. 2022 Nov 18; 2159–65. 2. Dalal PK, Basu D. Twenty years of Internet addiction … Quo Vadis? Indian J Psychiatry. 2016; 58(1):6–11. 3. Ramakrishnan KS. A Study on the Internet Addiction among College Students in Chennai. Int J Comput Sci Eng. 2019 Jun 30; 7:898– 900. 4. DSM [Internet]. [cited 2024 Aug 2]. Available from:https://www.psychiatry.org:443/psychiatr ists/practice/dsm 5. ICD-11 for Mortality and Morbidity Statistics [Internet]. [cited 2024 Aug 2]. Available from: https://icd.who.int/browse/2024-01/mms/en# 338347362 6. Krishnamurthy S, Chetlapalli SK. Internet Addiction: Prevalence and Risk Factors: A CrossSectional Study among College Students in Bengaluru, the Silicon Valley of India. Indian J Public Health. 2015 Jun; 59(2):115. 7. Gupta D, Prabhu S. Study of Internet Addiction in Young Adults. 2020; (4). 8. Young KS. Internet Addiction: A New Clinical Phenomenon and Its Consequences. Am Behav Sci. 2004 Dec; 48(4):402–15. 9. Lancy D'Souza, Manish S, Shravan Raj M.S. Relationship between Academic Stress and Internet Addiction among College Students. Int J Indian Psychol [Internet]. 2018 May 20 [cited 2024 Aug 1]; 6(2). Available from: https:// ijip.in/articles/relationship-betwee n-academicstress-and-internet-addiction-among-collegestudents/ 10. Kim YR, Son JW, Lee SI, Shin CJ, Kim SK, Ju G, et al. Abnormal brain activation of adolescent internet addict in a ball-throwing animation task: Possible neural correlates of disembodiment revealed by fMRI. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2012 Oct 1; 39(1):88–95. 11. Kuss DJ, van Rooij AJ, Shorter GW, Griffiths MD, van de Mheen D. Internet addiction in adolescents: Prevalence and risk factors. Comput Hum Behav. 2013 Sep 1; 29(5):1987–96. 12. Park MH, Park EJ, Choi J, Chai S, Lee JH, Lee C, et al. Preliminary study of Internet addiction and cognitive function in adolescents based on IQ tests. Psychiatry Res. 2011 Dec 30; 190(2):275–81. 13. Tsitsika A, Janikian M, Schoenmakers TM, Tzavela EC, Ólafsson K, Wójcik S, et al. Internet Addictive Behavior in Adolescence: A Cross-Sectional Study in Seven European Countries. Cyberpsychology Behav Soc Netw. 2014 Aug; 17(8):528–35. 14. Young KS. Internet Addiction Test [Internet]. 2015 [cited 2024 Aug 2]. Available from: https://doi.apa.org/doi/10.1037/t41898-000 15. X. M, K. G, Felix J. Prevalence and associated factors of Internet addiction among college students using smartphone in Tamil Nadu -A Cross-Sectional Study. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2021 Aug 27; 8:4525.16. Young - 2015 - Internet Addiction Test.pdf [Internet]. [cited 2024 Aug 2]. Available from: https://www.iitk.ac.in/counsel/resources/IATM anual.pdf 17. Young KS. Internet Addiction Test [Internet]. 2015 [cited 2024 Aug 2]. Available from: https://doi.apa.org/doi/10.1037/t41898-000 18. Sharma A, Sahu R, Kasar P, Sharma R. Internet addiction among professional courses students: A study from Central India. Int J Med Sci Public Health. 2014 Sep 1; 3:1069–73. 19. The Gender-Sensitive Social Risk Factors for Internet Addiction in College Undergraduate Students - PMC [Internet]. [cited 2024 Jul 31]. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih. gov/pmc/articles/PMC8328835/ 20. Agrawal G, Jain P, Verma R. Internet Usage and its Addiction among School-going Adolescents in an Urban District of India. Prev Med Res Rev. 2024 Aug; 1(4):184. 21. López-Bueno R, Koyanagi A, López-Sánchez GF, Firth J, Smith L. Association between age of first exposure and heavy internet use in a representative sample of 317,443 adolescents from 52 countries. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2023; 32(3):395–403. 22. Kashfi SM, Karami H, Jafari F, Daliri M, Yazdankhah M, Kamyab A, et al. Internet Addiction and Sleep Disorders among Medical Students. Sci World J. 2023 Sep 15; 2023:6685676. 23. Amano A, Ahmed G, Nigussie K, Asfaw H, Fekadu G, Hiko A, et al. Internet addiction and associated factors among undergraduate students of Jimma University; Jimma, South West Ethiopia, institutional based cross-sectional study. BMC Psychiatry. 2023 Oct 5; 23(1):721.