Prevalence and Psychiatric Risk Factors of Excessive Internet Use among Northern Bangladeshi Job-Seeking Graduate Students: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Although internet addiction (IA) has been the subject of research in many countries, it is poorly studied in Bangladesh, and previous studies in the country have not examined potential mental health risk factors in relation to the development of IA. The present pilot study attempted to assess the prevalence and associated risk factors of IA among a convenience sample of recently graduated university students actively looking for a job (N = 284) from July to October 2018 in Rajshahi (a city in Bangladesh). The measures included socio-demographic and behavioral variables, the Internet Addiction Test (IAT), and the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale. Surprisingly, no cases of IA were identified in the sample (i.e., the prevalence rate of IA was 0%) which may have been a consequence of the specific population sampled. A total of 3.9% of the participants (n = 11) were classified as excessive users (≥ 60 in IAT). Using regression analysis, the risk factors for excessive internet use were spending more time online (> 5 h daily) and experiencing psychiatric conditions (i.e., depression, stress). It is hoped the present pilot study will facilitate further study in Bangladesh with a more in-depth focus on the socio-demographic and psychiatric morbidities in excessive and problematic internet use. It is also speculated that job-seeking may be a situational protective risk factor for developing IA.

Does loneliness, self‐esteem and psychological distress correlate with problematic internet use? A Bangladeshi survey study

“…It has been reported that individuals with PIU have more irregular sleeping patterns and episodes of disturbed sleep than non-problematic internet users (Bener & Bhugra, 2013;Bener et al, 2019). In other studies conducted in Bangladesh, it has also been reported that having more and less sleeping time is a risk factor for IA (Afrin et al, 2017;Islam & Hossin, 2016;Jahan et al, 2019, Mamun & Griffiths, 2019aMamun, Rafi, et al, 2019).…”

“…This is much higher that the rates reported in two previous Bangladeshi studies. In the first study, Mamun, Rafi, et al (2019) reported that 3.9% of their sample of recent graduate job seekers scored ≥60 on the IAT (and also argued that being an active job seeker might be a protective factor because the individuals did not have the time to spend hours a day on the internet because they were actively job-seeking). In the second study by Karim and Nigar (2014) reported that 1.74% university students in their sample scored ≥62 on the IAT.…”

“…The movement is reflected by the fact that by March 2019 there were 93.1 million internet subscribers (BTRC, 2019;Mamun & Griffiths, 2019b). With increasing internet use, negative online behaviors have been reported in the country including internet dependence, problematic internet use, and internet addiction (Mamun, Arafat, et al, 2019;Mamun, Hossain, et al, 2019;Mamun, Rafi, et al, 2019). However, there is a relative scarcity of research addressing this emerging issue in Bangladesh.…”

“…A few recent studies in the country asserted that further IA research is needed and that associated psychosocial and psychiatric comorbidities should be investigated (eg, self-esteem, loneliness, hostility, personality disorders, etc.) (Islam & Hossin, 2016;Mamun, Hossain, et al, 2019;Mamun, Rafi, et al, 2019). Consequently, in order to fill this knowledge gap, the present study assessed the prevalence of PIU, and potential associated risk factors (ie, socio-demographics, internet use behaviors) and a number of psychological issues (including selfesteem, loneliness, and psychological distress).…”

Internet addiction among young Bangladeshi adults: critical commentary on Hassan et al. (2020)

“…One of the major omissions in the paper is that in their Introduction, not a single previous Bangladeshi study was discussed even though there are many (e.g., [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] -see Table 1 for details), and only one was mentioned in the Discussion [10]. Hasan also claimed that: "Most of the studies conducted previously evaluated the prevalence of internet addiction and its predictors in adolescent samples, within the age range of 12 to 18 years" (p. 2).…”