The Internet Addiction Pattern and Its Mental Impact Among Medical Students in Bangalore: A Cross -Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: In recent times internet addiction has become a leading cause of many personality and psychiatric disorders. Researches done on this field has shown that younger population is more vulnerable because of their psychosocial and environmental characteristics. The medical profession is also joining this parade. Objectives: 1) To assess pattern of Internet Addiction among medical students. 2) To estimate the prevalence of Anxiety, Depression and Stress among medical students. 3) To determine the correlation between Internet Addiction and its impact on mental health. Methods: Cross‑sectional study was conducted among 308 undergraduate students of 1st and 2nd year MBBS in a medical college, Bangalore. Young’s Internet Addiction Test –20 was used for assessment of Internet Addiction and DASS-21questionnaire for the assessment of Depression, anxiety and stress. Spearman’s Rank Correlation was used to find the strength of association. Results: In the present study mean age of the study participants was 20.6 years, around 54% were using internet from age of >15 years. Overall prevalence of severe internet addiction was found to be 1.3%. Nearly 53% reported depression and 69% had a state of anxiety. Conclusion: Chronic usage of internet including in odd hours was observed. Study showed strong positive correlation between Depression and Internet addiction and Stress and Internet addiction.

Keywords

• Internet addiction
• medical students
• anxiety
• depression