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A Study Internet Addiction Among Medical Students from Central India

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JDMIMSU Vol. 11 No. 2, 2016

Original Article

A Study Internet Addiction Among Medical Students from

Central India
Sachin Gedam*, Arvind Goyal**, Lipsy Modi**, Vijay Babar***, Swapnil K. Patond****

Abstract :
Background : Internet is being used extensively throughout the world including India from last decade. Its rapid use for
education, research and information along with the entertainment, gaming and social networking among the medical
students become a major concern. Objectives: To study the prevalence of internet addiction, pattern of internet use and
associated psychopathology among the medical students. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted
on 390 medical students from Wardha, Maharashtra. A total of 415 participants were selected through simple random
sampling. Data collection was done through semi-structured profroma, Young's Intenet Addiction Test and Mental Health
Inventory. Results: Mean age of the students was 19.57 (±1.52) years. The total prevalence of internet addiction was
found to be 23.3% with moderate and severe addiction being 21.0% and 2.3% respectively. The internet addiction was
associated with male gender (X2=10.63, P=0.001) and login status (X2=9.75, P=0.002) of the students. It was also found to
be associated with anxiety, depression, and loss of emotional/behavioral control, life satisfaction, psychological distress
and psychological well-being (P < 0.05). Conclusion: the significant relationship was found between internet addiction
and psychopathology, so preventive measures should be taken to promote appropriate internet use and create awareness
among students.
Key words: Internet addiction, Medical students, Pattern of internet use, Psychopathology, Prevalence.

Introduction : time to play, b) a continuous access to the internet, c) no

Internet is being used extensively throughout the
world. In India there were about 137 million internet users
in June 2012 as compared to 5 million in 2000.(1) In June
2013, India had 190 million internet users according to a
research conducted by IAMAI and IMRB.(2) Internet is used
as a tool for information, entertainment, news, financial,
academic materials, interpersonal communication and on
the other hand it can be used by some to indulge in
chatting for long hours, gaming, pornography and even
gambling.(3) Such an excessive and undisciplined use of
internet by some individuals leading to the over use of
internet and maladaptive internet behavior called
“internet addiction”.(4) Problematic internet use might
have negative effects on the user's physical and
psychological health; social, academic, professional, and
marital relationships, and other areas of life.(5) Many
studies have found that internet addiction is associated
with psychiatric symptoms such as depression, anxiety
and low self esteem.(6,7,8) students addicted to
internet more likely to be low in psychological well-
being.(9) College students are more vulnerable group to
internet addiction due to reasons as follows: a) unlimited
Asst Prof*, PG Student**, Dept of Psychiatry,
Asst Prof***, Dept of Community,
Asst Prof****, Dept of Forensic Medicine
Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College
DMIMS(DU), Sawangi (M), Wardha, Maharashtra, India.
parental control, d) finding new friends through internet,
e) students encounter serious problems in university
settings and f) adolescents are more trained in using the
different internet applications.(4,10) A number of studies
explored internet addiction among students from medical
universities.(11,12)
The prevalence of internet addiction ranged from
0.3% to 38% in different population. Young estimated that
about 5% to 10% of users were internet addict.(13,14) A
study on medical students in India reported a prevalence
of 0.4%.(15)
Considering the enormous use of internet among the
adolescents and particularly among the medical students
which is the most vulnerable group, it is important to
study the internet use pattern in this subset of population.
The objectives of the present study were to understand
pattern of internet use, prevalence of internet addiction,
and associated psychopathology among medical students
from central part of India.
Material and Methods :
Study design, Study Population and Sampling
This cross sectional study was carried out on
undergraduate medical students of Jawaharlal Nehru
Medical College in the city of Wardha, Maharashtra during
the period of November-December 2015. A total of 415
MBBS students (1st, 2nd and 3rd year) aged 17-25 years
using internet for at least since last 6 months were
selected through simple random sampling. The study was

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a study internet addiction among medical students from central India Gedam et al

conducted after obtaining approval from the ethics Data were analyzed using the SPSS version 17.0 and
committee of university and permission of college GraphPad Prism 5.0 version. The analysis was done by
authorities. descriptive and inferential statistics using Chisquare test
The students were explained about the nature and and Multiple Logistic Regression Analysis. P-value < 0.05
purpose of the study. After assuring confidentiality and considered as significant.
obtaining informed consent, the data was collected by Results :
self-administering questionnaires. The questionnaire A total of 390 out of 415 students selected in the
contained three parts as follows: study. There were 145 (37.2%) males and 245 (62.8%)
1. The Semi-structured proforma that contains females with mean age of 19.57 (±1.52) years. Majority of
details of age, gender, educational qualification, the students have started using internet for 1-5 years
computer ownership, place of access (home, cybercafé, (51.5%). Laptop (64.1%) was the main source of accessing
or others), type of internet connection, login status, internet. Most of the students were using internet during
location of internet access, time of internet use and night time (25.6%) and intermittently (86.7%). Most
reasons for internet use. common mode of internet use was mobile internet and
2. The Internet Addiction Test:(16) It was developed location of use was residence. The major purpose of
by Dr. Kimberly Young, and it is a reliable measure of internet use was educational and social networking.
addictive use of the Internet. The IAT is a 20-item 5-point (Table 1)
likert scale that measures the severity of self-reported
compulsive use of the internet. The marking for this Table No. 1 : Age, Gender and Pattern of internet use
questionnaire ranges from 20-100. Based on the scoring of the students
the students were divided into normal internet users (<
50), moderate internet addict (50-69) and severe internet
addict (>70). Cronbach's computed of this questionnaire
was 0.889 by Frangos. Data were analyzed based on two
groups of normal students (score < 50) and addict students
(score > 50).
3. Mental health inventory (MHI) is a method for
evaluating mental health issues such as anxiety,
depression, behavioral control, positive affect, and
general distress. It helps in the measure of overall
emotional functioning.(17)The mental health inventory is
a self report questionnaire includes 38 items in the
respondent uses a 6-point likert-style response. The test
has a reported .93 Cronbach alpha rating. The MHI may be
aggregated into: Six subscales – Anxiety, Depression, Loss
of Behavioural / Emotional Control, General Positive
Affect, Emotional Ties and Life Satisfaction; Two global
scales - Psychological Distress and Psychological Well-
being.
Of the total participants 25 student's data excluded
from the study as they were incorrect and incomplete.
Thus a total of 390 students included in our study.
Sample size
The sample size was determined by using the
formula n=Z2pq/d2 (where Z=1.96 at 95% confidence; p=
prevalence of internet addiction; q=1-p; d=absolute
allowable error). Considering maximum variability for
this study, therefore p=0.5; q=0.5; d=10% of p. Sample
size thus calculated was 384 and round figure of 415
selected.
Statistical Analysis

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a study internet addiction among medical students from central India Gedam et al

The overall prevalence of internet addiction was Table No. 4 : Association of pattern of internet use
calculated equal to 23.3%, with moderate and severe with internet addiction among the students
addiction being 21.0% and 2.3% respectively. (Table 2)

Table No. 2 : Severity of internet addiction among

the students

In the present study, majority of the students on MHI

had low scores on anxiety, depression, loss of
emotional/behavioral control and psychological distress
subscales whereas they had high scores on general
positive affect, emotional ties, life satisfaction and
psychological well-being subscales. (Table 3)

Table No. 3 : Scoring on Mental Health Inventory

among the students

The symptoms on MHI such as anxiety, depression,

loss of emotional/behavioral control, life satisfaction,
psychological distress and psychological well-being had
significant association with internet addiction (P< 0.05)
whereas general positive affect and emotional ties had no
significant correlation with internet addiction (P> 0.05) as
shown in (Table 5).
Logistic regression analysis reported that male
gender and psychological well-being were the predictors
of internet addiction among the students. (Table 6)
Discussion :
In the present study prevalence of internet addiction
was found to be 23.3% (moderate 21.0% and severe 2.3%)
among medical students. When compared with the other
The student's gender and login status had significant
studies made on university students, the ratio obtained in
association with internet addiction (P< 0.05), but no
present study in terms of addiction is higher 10.8%(18),
significant association was found among computer
10.66%(19) than some studies, while it is almost similar
ownership, duration of internet use, preferred time of
16.2%(20), 18.88%(21), 20%(22) to some other studies. The
internet use, mode of internet access, location and
reasons for variations in the prevalence rates could be
purpose of use with internet addiction (P> 0.05) as shown
heterogeneity of population studied, lack of standard
in (Table 4).

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a study internet addiction among medical students from central India
Table No. 5 : Association of psychopathology with
internet addiction among the students
Table No. 6 : AMultiple Logistic Regression Analysis
when IAT score was taken as a dependent variable
diagnostic criteria, and non consideration of psychiatric
morbidities in some studies.(8,11,23-26)
The results showed males in comparison to females
were significantly more likely to be addicted (X2=10.63,
P=0.001). Many studies on internet addiction among
adolescents reported similar result of male
preponderance.(27,28,29) it may be explained by the
fact that males are more likely to express interest in
games, pornography and gambling activities that have
Vol. 11 No 2, 2016
Gedam et al
been associated with problematic internet use.(23)
In the present study, the students having permanent
logged in status of internet use were more addicted than
those having intermittent use (X2=9.75, P=0.002),
whereas the other internet pattern use were not
significantly correlated with internet addiction (P> 0.05).
In a study by Krishnamurthy and Kumar reported
permanently logged in status, using internet for chatting,
pornography, making new friendships, getting into
relationships online and shopping were potential factors
associated with internet addiction, whereas duration of
internet use, gadgets, mode of internet access and using
the internet for news, updates, checking mails,
entertainment, social networking and playing games were
not found to be significantly influential factors.(30) A
study by Goel et al reported purpose of internet use and
time of internet use (evening and nights) were
significantly different for addicts.(31) These variation in
results was mostly attributed to the differences in study
populations.
This study reported significant association between
internet addiction and psychiatric symptoms such as
anxiety (X2=44.63, P=0.0001), depression (X2=40.51,
P=0.0001), loss of emotional/behavioral control
(X2=45.42, P=0.0001) and life satisfaction (X2=4.87,
P=0.028). Many studies reported association between
excessive use of internet and psychiatric problems like
depression, anxiety, lower self-esteem and life
satisfaction.(32,33,34) Alavi et al had also examined
strong association between internet addiction and
psychiatric symptoms.(35) These findings are consistent
with the present study. Our study also reported strong
correlation between internet addiction and symptoms
such as psychological distress and psychological well-
being (X2=95.37, P=0.0001), with internet addict students
reported high scores on psychological distress subscale
and low scores on psychological well-being subscale as
compared to normal students. This finding is similar to the
investigation done by Mehmet CARDAK reporting internet
addicted students are more likely to be low in
psychological well-being.(9) It may be due to the fact that
students use the internet to cope with the stress by
avoiding cognitive tasks and engaging in activities with the
goal of distraction.(36)
Logistic regression analysis showed that male gender
and lower psychological well-being were found to be
predictors of internet addiction. These findings are in
consistent with the previous studies reporting that male
gender was one of the main predictor of internet addiction
and greater levels of dependent internet use was
negatively associated with psychological well-being of
subject.(9,18)
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a study internet addiction among medical students from central India Gedam et al

The internet has become an integral part of our day – July 2013, volume 12 issue 3.
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Financial Support : Declared None
Conflict of Interest : Declared None
Month of Receipt : January 2016
Month of Acceptance : March 2016
E-mail of Author : sachinrgedam@gmail.com
Manuscript No. : 2015 / O - 10
238