The Prevalence of Internet Addiction and Its Relation With Demographic Factors Among the Students of Gonabad Universities

With the invention of the Internet and its widespread popularity, in addition to the many benefits, it was accompanied by many damages and problems. The biggest damage tousing this technology is addiction. Internet addiction can be a chronic, pervasive, recurring, and very damaging disorder. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of internet addiction and its relation with demographic factors among the students of Gonabad Universities in the academic year 2015-2016.

The study design was cross-sectional. The sample of the study was all students of Azad and Payam Noor University of Gonabad. A total of 1182 students of Azad and Payam Noor University of Gonabad participated in the research process by simple random sampling. To collect data, the demographic questionnaire and Young’s Internet addiction scale was used. Data was analyzed using SPSS descriptive statistics software version 19, and the chi-squared test.

The prevalence rate of Internet addiction was 14.3%. The prevalence rate in male and female samples was 14.1% and 14.5%, respectively. A total of 33.9% of students in the sample were at risk of Internet addiction disorder. The results of chi-square test results showed no significant relationship between gender, marital status, the field of study, and Internet addiction (P>0.05). However, the results of the analysis indicated a significant relationship between age, place of residence, level of education, and type of university with the prevalence of Internet addiction (P<0.05).

According to the high prevalence of Internet addiction among students, appropriate treatment interventions are required for Internet addiction students.