Prevalence and Pattern of Internet Addiction Among Adolescents in Ibadan, Nigeria: A Cross-Sectional Study

Internet addiction among MBBS students at a New Delhi medical college: Prevalence and determinants of a silent pandemic

Background and Objective

The 21st century has witnessed a surge in global internet usage, particularly in developing nations like India. Internet addiction, also known as pathological internet use (PIU) or internet addiction (IA), has emerged as a mental health concern, especially among university students. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of IA among MBBS students in a medical college in Delhi, India, and explore the association of IA with sociodemographic and internet usage patterns.

Materials and Methods

A cross-sectional observational study was conducted among 300 undergraduate medical students. Data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire, which included the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) developed by Dr. Kimberley Young. The IAT measures various aspects of internet use, and scores are categorized as normal user, mild addiction, moderate addiction, and severe addiction. Descriptive statistics and chi-square tests were used for data analysis.

Results

The mean age of onset of internet use was 14.4 ± 1.6 years. Smartphones were the most common devices used for internet access (96.3%), and the mean daily internet usage was 2.9 h ± 0.9 (standard deviation [SD]). The study found that 70.7% of students maintained a permanent login status. The majority of subjects used the Internet for coursework (89.7%) and information searches (88.7%). The prevalence of IA was significant, with 90% of participants being addicted to varying degrees. The grading of IA revealed 10% with no addiction, 54.6% with mild addiction, 32% with moderate addiction, and 3.3% with severe addiction.

Conclusion

IA is a prevalent public health concern among medical students in Delhi, with a majority of participants being addicted to some extent. Females showed a higher proportion of addiction compared to males. Certain internet activities, such as social networking and watching online videos, were significantly associated with IA. The study highlights the need for recognizing IA as a public health concern and further research to understand its impact on the youth. Longitudinal studies are recommended to observe the development and progression of IA over time.

Internet addiction during the COVID-19 pandemic among adolescents in southeast Nigeria and implications for adolescent care in the post-pandemic era: A cross-sectional study

Objectives

This study aimed to determine the prevalence and associated factors of internet addiction amongst adolescents in Southeast Nigeria during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) era.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was carried out in 10 randomly selected secondary schools, 2 (one urban and one rural) each from Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi Enugu and Imo states of southeastern Nigeria between July and August 2021. Data on demographic variables were collected using a structured self-administered questionnaire. Young's Internet Addiction Test was used to assess the extent of internet use. Analysis was done using the IBM SPSS Statistics version 23. The level of significance was set at a p-value of <0.05.

Results

The mean age of the respondents was 16.2 ± 1.8 years and the male: female ratio was 1:1.6. Most of the adolescents (61.1%) used the internet for academic purposes, while 32.8% used it for social interactions and the majority (51.5%) used their phones. The prevalence of internet addiction was 88.1% (24.9% had mild, 59.6% had moderate, while 3.6% had severe addiction) and a good proportion of the respondents (81.1%) perceived addiction as bad. Internet addiction was significantly associated with the respondent's age (p = 0.043), mother's level of education (p = 0.023), family size (p = 0.021), place of residence (p = 0.035), alcohol intake (p = 0.017), smoking (p = 0.015), substance use (p = 0.001) as well as the duration of internet use (p < 0.001). Internet addiction was predicted by the male gender (adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 2.054; confidence interval (CI): 1.200-3.518), early adolescent age group (10-13 years) (AOR: 0.115; C1: 0.015-0.895) as well as the duration of internet use (AOR: 0.301; CI: 0.189-0.479).

Conclusions

The prevalence of internet addiction among adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic era was high. The predictors of addiction were the male gender, early adolescent age group and duration of internet use.

Social Bullying Among Undergraduates: The Roles of Internet Gaming Disorder, Risk-Taking Behavior, and Internet Addiction

An issue that affects the academic engagement, performance, health and wellbeing of university undergraduates is bullying. Substantial literature has examined the predictors of bullying perpetration, but there is little research on the contributions of internet-related factors and the propensity to take risks in bullying. We examined the roles of IGD, risk-taking behavior, and internet addiction in social bullying. Four instruments were used for data collection, namely: Young Adult Social Behavior Scale (YASB), the Internet Gaming Disorder Scale (IGDS9-SF), Domain-Specific Risk-Taking Scale, and the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) Scale. Participants were 552 undergraduate students from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka consisting of 143 males and 409 females (age range = 17–32 years; M = 21.45; SD = 2.71). Results of regression analysis showed that gaming disorder (GD) and risk-taking behavior had positive associations with social bullying. Thus, the more people grow addicted to internet gaming and takes more risks, the more they are likely to become bullies. Internet addiction had no significant association with social bullying. Efforts should be made to minimize the rate of dysfunctional internet use, GD and risk-taking behaviors of undergraduates in order to curtail bullying perpetration.