Internet addiction and its mental health correlates among Indian medical graduate students in Rajasthan: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Internet addiction (IA) can affect young students’ professional development and jeopardize long-term career goals. Aim: This study aimed to assess the proportion of medical graduate students having IA and to study the association of IA with stress, anxiety, and depression. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional, web-based study was done in a medical college from August 2021 to December 2021. Categorical data were presented as proportion, and continuous data as mean values and standard deviation (SD). The chi-square test, Spearman correlation test, and multivariate logistic regression were applied for statistical analysis. Results: The participants’ mean (SD) age was 20.8 (1.171) years. The prevalence of IA was 52.8%. Most participants (40%) had mild IA, 11.4% had moderate IA, and 1.2% had severe IA. About 11.9% of participants had stress, 28.6% had depression, and 54.7% had anxiety. IA was found to be significantly correlated with stress (r = 0.58, P < 0.01), depression (r = 0.63, P < 0.01), and anxiety (r = 0.59, P < 0.01). The multivariate regression models showed that age (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.32, P = 0.002), current residence (AOR = 6.30 and 2.23, P < 0.01, 0.035), age at the time of initiation of internet use (AOR = 0.90, P = 0.046), stress (AOR = 1.19, P < 0.01), depression (AOR = 1.28, P < 0.01), and anxiety (AOR = 1.28, P < 0.01) were independent predictors of IA. Conclusion: Indian medical graduate students had a higher prevalence of IA, and IA was associated with stress, depression, and anxiety. Provisions for periodic mental health counseling and therapeutic intervention for affected students should be made. Follow-up studies should be done to assess the cause-effect relationship between these variables.

Keywords

• medical students
• mental health
• stress