Internet Addiction, Prevalence, and Related Factors: A Study on Newly Arrived Students of Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences

Despite the advantages of the internet for human life, nowadays, as a double-edged sword, this new communication technology has caused problems such as internet addiction, especially for the young people and students. Identifying the factors related to such an addictive behavior is of especial importance, both because of its general consequences and because of the specific nature of the student stratum. The present study was conducted to identify the extent of and factors related to internet addiction in students of Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences.

This descriptive-analytical study was conducted in the academic year 2013 on newly arrived students of Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences (N = 253). The data collection instrument was a two-part questionnaire including students’ demographic characteristics, and questions related to internet addiction assessment (internet addiction test [IAT]), in which a score above 49 was related to pathological internet addiction and a score below or equal to 49 was considered normal. The analyses were performed using SPSS statistical software version 16.0. The significance level of 0.05 was considered for all the above tests.

The data analysis indicated that 196 (96%) respondents were with non-pathological internet addiction and 8 respondents (4%) had pathological internet addiction. There was also a significant relationship between age and internet addiction; however, sex and marital status variables had no significant relationship with this phenomenon.

Based on the results of this study, the participants mostly had mild levels of internet addiction, which can be related to the time of study regarding newly arrived students and concerns about it such as the entrance exam. Students who are about entering the university spend most of their time reviewing the required courses for the entrance exam due to the importance of the exam, and it seems that they often less likely use the internet. Nonetheless, it is important to consider the internet addiction as a problem regarding the overall results of studies in this area.