Evaluation of sleep quality, social dysfunction disorder and cognitive empowerment in students with and without internet addiction disorder

Internet addiction disorder is a psychological disorder that affects individual and social lives and causes some disorders. The aim of this study was to compare sleep quality, social dysfunction, and cognitive empowerment in students of Mohaghegh Ardabili University with or without internet addiction disorder.

The present study was a descriptive-comparative causal study. The statistical population of this study was all students of Mohaghegh Ardabili University in the first semester of the academic year of 2018-19. Internet addiction and 50 non-Internet addiction students were selected. Young's Internet Addiction Questionnaire (with a cut-off score of 70 and above), the Goldenberg General Health Questionnaire for social dysfunction, the Petersburg Sleep Quality Questionnaire, and the Rescue Cognitive Competence Questionnaire were used to collect data. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance.

The results showed that the scores of non-Internet-addicted students in the variables of sleep quality (p = 0.001) and cognitive empowerment (p = 0.02) were significantly higher than students with Internet addiction disorder. The results also showed that the variable scores of social dysfunction disorder were significantly higher in students with Internet addiction disorder than non-Internet-addicted students (p = 0.001).

According to the results, it is recommended to provide the necessary training courses in universities for proper and effective use of the Internet, and to acquaint the young generation with behavioral, moral and social dangers.