Prevalence of Internet Addiction in Students of Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences in 2015

Background One of the factors jeopardizing individual and social status of persons is internet over-use. Considering the importance of the internet to learn new information, faster relationships between people, and widespread use among students, more precise knowledge regarding the potential harms of internet over-use is necessary. Methods This descriptive cross-sectional study included 1000 medical students in 2015 from Sabzevar University. The collected data include demographic information and a standard evaluation of internet addiction, called the Young questionnaire. Data were analyzed by SPSS software (version16) with the help of Pearsonʹs correlation test and Independent t- test. P value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results The age average of 638 participants was 21.1 ± 3.5 years (72.8% female). 22.9% were married and 47.9% were from Sabzevar originally. The average internet addition score was mild, about 27.9 ± 18.2. Thirty-six percent (n = 229) had used the internet normally, 51.1% (n = 325) had mild addiction, 12.3% (n = 78) had moderate addiction, and 0.6% (n = 4) had severe addiction. There was a significant relationship between internet addiction and sex (P = 0.003), marital status (P = 0.006) and indigenous status (P = 0.03). There was no significant relation between age and internet addiction in this population (P = 0.329). Conclusions A significant number of students are at risk of internet addiction and its related physical and psychological harms. It is necessary to take the appropriate steps to prevent internet addiction. Educating students in terms of qualified use of the internet may be very effective for this purpose.