Study of Internet Use Characteristics, Perceived Stress, and Internet Addiction among First-year Medical Students of Jamnagar, Gujarat, India
Keywords :
College students, Internet addiction, Perceived stress
Citation Information :
Study of Internet Use Characteristics, Perceived Stress, and Internet Addiction among First-year Medical Students of Jamnagar, Gujarat, India. Ind J Priv Psychiatry 2019; 13 (2):44-47.
Background: Internet addiction increases the stress level and interferes with the academic performance and other activities in college students. The objective was to examine the relation of internet use characteristics and perceived stress in internet addiction among first-year medical students.
Materials and methods: This was a cross-sectional and observational study of 200 first-year students of medical college, Jamnagar. Patterns of internet use and socioeducational data were collected. Internet addiction test (IAT) was used to assess the internet addiction. Perceived stress scale (PSS) was utilized to assess the stress level. The data were analyzed using appropriate statistics.
Results: Out of total 172 participants, 5.73% of students had internet addiction. More than half of the students with internet addiction were using internet for 5 years or more and almost everywhere, spending more money, and using multiple gadgets for internet. More than 85% of the students with internet addiction did not perform any daily exercise/sports, were spending more than 2 hours in a day, and had high levels of perceived stress. The distribution of total duration of internet use, time and money spent on internet, gadgets used for internet, perceived stress, and internet addiction was also found to be statistically significant using multiple logistic regression analysis.
Conclusion: Internet usage with multiple gadgets and spending more time, for longer duration (>5 years), were correlates of internet addiction in college students. Students with internet addiction perceived high level of stress.
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