Abstract:

Background: Smartphone and internet has become the necessity of the society and students are more prone to addict in digital world. Internet dependency is compulsive behaviour that influences student health, studies and social relations. The prevalence of Internet addiction is rising worldwide especially among adolescents. The aim of the present study was to explores the prevalence of internet addiction and pattern of internet uses among young medical student and its association with various socio-demographical and behavioural factors. Material and Methods: Students were interviewed to predesigned proforma for socio-demographic profile and questionnaire for Internet Addiction Test (IAT). The total score of IAT ≥ 50 considered as internet addicted (IA), was main dependent variable, while age, gender, residence, medium of school education, type of family, socioeconomic status and social or behavioural problems were independent variables. Multinomial logistic regression was used to assess significance of internet addiction, P-value < .05 considered as significant. Results: The prevalence of internet addiction was 24% among young medical students. Students residing with parents or local guardians were more internet addicted (34%) than those residing in hostel (20%), and also the students showing self-injurious behaviour statistically significantly internet addicted (62.5%) than those not having such behaviour (23%). Other studied variables were not found associated with internet addiction. Conclusion: The internet addiction prevalence was 24% among medical students. The students staying at home were having 2.526 time more chances of internet addiction that those staying at hostel. Likewise, the students having internet addiction had 5.122 times more chances of self-injurious behaviour than their counterparts.

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