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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Article
Author(s)
R. M. A. Chamika and Shavindra R. Dias
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DOI:10.17265/2328-7136/2018.04.010
Affiliation(s)
1. Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna, Galle 80000, Sri Lanka
2. Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya 20400, Sri Lanka
ABSTRACT
Internet
addiction (IA) is a newly emerged clinical disorder and it has negative effects on
physical and mental health. University students are the most vulnerable group for
IA. The aim of the present study was to determine the relationship of IA with depression,
loneliness and health related lifestyle among university students.
Cross-sectional survey was conducted by enrolling 175 students of Faculty of
Allied Health Sciences, University of Peradeniya. Internet addiction test (IAT)
was used to assess the level of IA. Depression, loneliness, and health related
lifestyle were assessed using Peradeniya depression scale (PDS), University of
California at Los Angeles (UCLA) loneliness scale and health practice score
(HPS) respectively. T-test and ANOVA were conducted to examine the
differences; and correlation and regression analyses were used to examine the
relationships between variables. Overall, 40.6% of students were placed in IA
group. Generally 28.6% of students had mild and 12.0% had moderate addiction.
No case of severe
IA was seen. There were 20.6% of students in depressive state and 17.1% of
students had poor HPS. The average score that the student got from loneliness
scale was 23.42. There was a positive significant correlation between IA and
both depression and loneliness. Moreover,
a negative significant correlation found between IA
and health related lifestyle. Male students had higher IA scores than female
students. The study results are considered to develop preventive interventions
and treatment strategies.
KEYWORDS
IA, depression, loneliness, health related lifestyle, university students.
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