Internet Addiction Among University Students at School of Health Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Internet addiction issue risen among university students during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it can contribute to mental health deterioration such as depression which is a serious worldwide public health concern. [1, 3]. This study aims to study internet addiction among university students in School of Health Sciences, USM. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted via convenience sampling technique on 122 students from January 2022 to March 2022. The data were collected by a self-administered questionnaire consisting of demographic variables and the level of addiction using 26-items validated by Chen Internet Addiction (CIAS) [2]. The findings revealed that there were 122 respondents who participated in this study and mostly 78.7% female students participated. Most of the respondents were Year Two students (37.7%), the residence of the respondents mostly from hostel or campus (54.1%) and the time spent on internet per day mostly more than five hours (92.6%) per day (Table 1).
 In conclusion, the study indicated the level of internet addiction among university students. Therefore, this study implies that lowering the time spent on internet per day is necessary to reduce the hazards to university students' mental health such as depression.

Internet addiction and subjective well-being: the mediating role of social support and meaning in life

“…The phenomenon of IA has many related terms, including Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD), Pathological Internet Use (PIU), Compulsive Internet Use (CIU), and Problematic Internet Use, which share similar connotations (Shapira et al, 2003). IA is typically categorized as a "behavioral addiction" and has become a significant public health concern (Zaabah et al, 2022). Unlike substance dependence, IA is driven by psychological mechanisms rather than the ingestion of substances (Zou et al, 2017).…”