Internet Addiction Among University Students and Related Sociodemografic Factors

Abstract

Objectives: Preoccupation and compulsive use of the internet can cause impairment in functionality and has long been debated on the topic of "internet addiction" . The aim of the present study is to examine internet addiction, which is noted in the DSM-5 as the subject needed further studies, and related sociodemographic factors among university students. Method: 910 students from main campus of Mersin University were participated in the study, Young's Internet Addiction Test and sociodemographic questionnaire are applied to the students, the groups were classified as internet addiction (IA), risky internet usage (RIU) and average internet usage (AIU) according to the internet addiction test (IAT). Thus, the groups were compared with each other with respect to sociodemographic factors via statistical analysis. Results: In our study, 2% of students were in IA group, 21,9% in RIU and 77,1% in AIU. No significant statistical difference was found between IA and non-IA (RIU + AIU) groups in terms of sociodemographic cha racteristics (age, sex, marital status, people living toget her, monthly income and faculty). Students categorized into IA and RIU were found to spend over 40 hours on the internet (p<0,05). The most commonly used internet activities were chatting and social networking for IA; news reading and researching for non-IA group. Conclusion: Internet addiction observed among college students at a rate of 2% and characterized by excessive internet usage raises concern as a significant communal mental health problem.