A cross-sectional online survey of compulsive internet use and mental health of young adults in Malaysia

Abstract

Background:The last decade has seen the emergence of the internet as the prime communication medium changing the way people live and interact. Studies from various countries have reported on internet addiction and its association with mental health, but none have come from Malaysia.Objectives:We aimed at assessing the frequency of the use of various internet applications and exploring the association of compulsive internet use with mental health and socio-demographic factors.Materials and Methods:A cross-sectional online survey was carried out among participants registered for the monthly opinion poll survey of University Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia. The questionnaire contained socio-demographic information, the use of various internet applications on a five-point Likert scale, compulsive internet use scale (CIUS) and 12 item general health questionnaire (GHQ-12). Correlations and linear regression analyzes were carried out.Results:Of the 330 respondents, 182 were females and 148 were males. The mean age was 23.17 (SD = 3.84). Mean CIUS score was 19.85 (SD = 10.57) and mean GHQ score was 15.47 (SD = 6.29). Correlation coefficients of CIUS score with age, years of use and daily hours of internet use were −0.118 (P = 0.03), −0.014 (P = 0.81) and 0.242 (P < 0.001) respectively. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that age (β = −0.111, P = 0.033) and marital status (β = −0.124, P = 0.018) were negatively associated with CIUS scores whereas daily hours of internet use (β = 0.269, P = 0.001) and GHQ score (β = 0.259, P = 0.001) were positively associated with the CIUS score.Conclusions:Compulsive internet use was correlated with GHQ score. More research is needed to confirm our results. Psychologists may consider assessing internet addiction when evaluating young psychiatric patients.

A cross-sectional study on Internet addiction among Moroccan high school students, its prevalence and association with poor scholastic performance

“…This study also revealed that students logging on longer online and having a computer at home are more likely to be Internet addicts. This finding is in agreement with various previous studies (Hawi, 2012;Kutty & Sreeramareddy, 2014;Sasmaz et al, 2014;Siciliano et al, 2015). Moroccan high school students could be spending longer time online as a result of the increasing speed of the Internet in Morocco and its remarkable affordability along with the widespread adoption of home computers and smartphones.…”

Differences between specific and generalized problematic Internet uses according to gender, age, time spent online and psychopathological symptoms

“…Moreover, watching and downloading both video and music was the most represented activity, as in the European study of Durkee et al (2012). Given the increase of these behaviors (Kutty & Sreeramareddy, 2014), they should be further studied.…”

Views of young people in Malaysia on mental health, help‐seeking and unusual psychological experiences

“…For example, modern Malaysia marries more traditionally collectivistic cultures which emphasize conscientiousness and the desire to "save face" (Mastor, Jin, & Cooper, 2000;Santos, Varnum, & Grossmann, 2017) with increasingly widespread social media use. The latter encourages open, expressive and disclosive communication and gives voice to difference and dissent (Kutty & Sreeramareddy, 2014;Willnat & Aw, 2014). Participants' apparent curiosity regarding mental illness-despite associated stigma-seems to reflect the cultural importance placed on education and learning (Verbik & Lasanowski, 2007).…”