The Addiction among Students and Its Effect on Mental Health

One of the most important tools in the modern world is internet. But if we don’t use it rightly, it may result in internet addiction. The purpose of this study was to compare the rate of addiction among students and its effect on their mental health. The method of the research was descriptive and causal-comparative (expost facto). In this study, 100 students were selection among all the students studying at Mazandaran University through random sampling method in 2010-11 academic year. Based on the internet addiction test, the students were divided into three groups (mild, moderate, and severe). In order to compare these three groups from a health point of view, GHQ-28 was used. To analyze the research data MANOVA, ANOVA, and Shefe method were used. The results showed that there was a distinction between the mental health and its effects (somatic, anxiety, social, depression syndrome) among students and the rate of internet addiction. We also conclude that Internet addiction can threaten students.