Original Article

Prevalence and determinants of Internet addiction among

the students of professional colleges in the Jammu region
Rashmi Kumari1, Bhavna Langer1, Riya Gupta2, Rajiv K. Gupta1,
Mehak T. Mir1, Basrat Shafi1, Taswinder Kour1, Sunil K. Raina3
Departments of 1Community Medicine and 2Ophthalmology, GMC, Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, 3Department of Community
Medicine, RPGMC, Tanda, Himachal Pradesh, India

A bstract
Background: With ever‑increasing digitization, the internet has intertwined into the daily lives of users to a large extent. It holds
tremendous educational benefits to college students; however, its excessive usage can lead to addiction and even psychological
morbidities. Objectives: To determine the prevalence of internet addiction and its association with various factors including
depression, anxiety, and stress. Materials and Methods: A cross‑sectional study was conducted among undergraduate students of
two professional colleges, i.e., medical and engineering colleges in the Jammu region. A pre‑tested, semi‑structured questionnaire
was used to elicit the information regarding socio‑demographic and personal details of students. Young’s internet addiction scale
was used to assess internet addiction, whereas the DASS 42 scale was used to measure depression, anxiety, and stress. Data thus
collected were analyzed using the PSPP software. Results: A total of 480 students constituted the study population. The prevalence
of internet addiction was found to be 78.7%, with a significantly higher prevalence seen among the male students in comparison
to females (P < 0.005). A significantly positive correlation of internet addiction was found with depression, anxiety, and stress.
Conclusions: Internet addiction is significantly associated with psychopathology among the respondents. In this context, there is
an urgent need to develop effective strategies for the prevention of internet addiction by promoting awareness among the students.

Keywords: Internet addiction, professional students, psychological morbidities

Introduction 58.8%.[1] In India, there were about 560 million internet users in
June 2019, as compared to only 5 million in Dec 2000, depicting
The internet is a widely recognized channel for information the rate of internet penetration to be 40.9% of the population,
exchange, academic research, entertainment, communication, which represents 24.3% of internet users in Asia.[1]
and commerce today. In recent years, explosive growth in the
use of the internet has been seen worldwide. According to the Different terms associated with the concept of Internet addiction
Internet World Stats, the Internet users’ population worldwide are Internet Addiction Disorder  (IAD), Pathological Internet
had increased from 360 million (Dec 2000) to 4536 million (June Use, Problematic Internet Use, Excessive Internet Use, and
2019), showing the worldwide internet penetration rate of Compulsive Internet Use. Dr. Ivan Goldberg proposed the term
“internet addiction” for pathological compulsive internet use in
Address for correspondence: Dr. Rashmi Kumari, 1995.[2] Griffith considered it as a subset of behavior addiction
Department of Community Medicine, GMC, Jammu,
and any behavior that meets the six “core components” of
Jammu and Kashmir, India.
E‑mail: [email protected]
addiction, i.e., salience, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal,
conflict, and relapse.[3] Young linked excessive internet use most
Received: 27‑05‑2021 Revised: 01-10-2021
Accepted: 20‑10‑2021 Published: 31-01-2022 This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution‑NonCommercial‑ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to
remix, tweak, and build upon the work non‑commercially, as long as appropriate credit is
Access this article online given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.
Quick Response Code:
Website:
For reprints contact: [email protected]
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How to cite this article: Kumari R, Langer B, Gupta R, Gupta RK, Mir MT,
DOI: Shafi B, et al. Prevalence and determinants of Internet addiction among
10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_991_21 the students of professional colleges in the Jammu region. J Family Med
Prim Care 2022;11:325-9.

© 2022 Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care | Published by Wolters Kluwer ‑ Medknow 325
 Kumari, et al.: Internet Addiction among professional students

closely to pathological gambling, a disorder of impulse control and has been used extensively all over the world. It covers
in DSM IV, and adapted the DSM IV criteria in relation to the degree to which internet use may affect daily routine,
internet use in the Internet Addiction Test developed by her.[4] social life, productivity, sleep pattern, and feelings. It consists
In recent years, developing countries such as India have shown of a 20‑item questionnaire scored on the Likert scale from
an exponential increase in internet usage. Easy accessibility and 1 (rarely) to 5 (always). A total score <20 represents normal
affordability of the internet have expanded its user group from users, between 20 and 49 mild addiction, 50 and 79 moderate
computer scientists, engineers, and technicians to the general addiction, and 80 and 100 severe addiction. Cronbach’s alpha
public. The Internet represents a global platform to share and was calculated as 0.88 for this study.
distribute information all over the world at a very low cost. The C. Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS)[5]
use of the internet and its outcome has become a controversial DASS is a 42‑item questionnaire that includes three
issue nowadays. On the one hand, it is the most important and self‑report scales designed to measure the negative emotional
useful need of modern man, whereas, on the other hand, people states of depression, anxiety, and stress. Each of the three
are overly addicted to it. Research has shown that the frequent use scales contains 14 items, with each item rated on a 4 point
of the internet caused a lot of psychological and mental disorders scale (0, does not apply to me at all and 3, does apply to me
such as anxiety, depression, stress, and obsessive‑compulsive almost always). The internal consistency alpha coefficients
disorder. were calculated for Depression, Anxiety, and Stress  (0.90,
0.92, and 0.92, respectively).
A review of the literature depicts a high prevalence of internet
use in India, especially in the young population. However, Inclusion criteria
the data pertaining to the use of the internet in J and K are
Apparently healthy students, who had given verbal informed
very much limited, especially among the students pursuing
consent.
professional courses. Hence, this study was conducted
to determine the prevalence of internet addiction and its
Exclusion criteria
association with various sociodemographic factors and
psychological morbidities among the students of professional Students under medication for any psychiatric illness, absent
colleges in the Jammu region. during the study period, incompletely filled questionnaire, lack
of interest, and not willing to give verbal informed consent.
Materials and Methods
Statistical analysis
A cross‑sectional study was conducted among the undergraduate Data thus collected were compiled and analyzed using the
students of two different professional colleges, i.e., Government PSPP software (free open access software). Qualitative data are
Medical College Jammu and Government College of Engineering presented as proportions, whereas quantitative data as means
and Technology, Kot Bhalwal, Jammu. The study design was with standard deviations. Univariate analysis was done by
reviewed and approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee, Chi‑square test and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Correlations
GMC, Jammu. After obtaining ethical clearance, permission between continuous variables were calculated using Pearson’s
to conduct the study was sought from the heads of both the correlation test. Multiple regression analysis was performed to
institutions. Before the start of the actual study, informed consent find out the independent association of various factors with
was obtained from all the voluntary participants. An assurance internet addiction. A P value < 0.05 was considered statistically
was given to all the students who were willing to participate in the significant.
study that their personal information would be kept confidential.
To ensure anonymity, no question about the name of the student
Results
was included in the questionnaire.
A total of 486 students studying in two different professional
Study instrument colleges voluntarily participated in the study, out of which 6
The tools used in the study were as follows: students were excluded from the analysis due to their incomplete
A. A pre‑tested, semi‑structured, questionnaire containing questionnaires. For analysis purposes, 480 students were taken
information on sociodemographic variables such as age, into consideration, among whom 300 were from the medical
gender, monthly family income, family history of depression stream and 180 from the engineering stream. The mean age of
or any family‑related stress, personal history related to any the study participants was 20.46 ± 1.32 years, with a range of
substance abuse. Other information collected was pertaining 18 to 24 years. Almost half of the students (54.2%) were males
to the duration of internet use, type of internet connection, and the rest were females (45.8%). The majority of the students
time, and reasons for internet use. were using the internet for 1 to 5 years (67%), and nighttime
B. Internet Addiction Test by Dr. Kimberly Young[4] users were comparatively more (47%). The most common mode
This is one of the most reliable scales used for evaluating the of internet access was mobile internet  (35%). The purpose
level of internet addiction. This is a self‑rated scale developed of use mainly cited was educational (52%), followed by social
for screening and measuring the levels of internet addiction networking (27%).

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 Kumari, et al.: Internet Addiction among professional students

Figure 1 shows the distribution of respondents as per the severity suffered from internet addiction (78.3% vs. 79.4%). However,
of internet addiction. The prevalence of internet addiction was a higher proportion of males suffered from addiction as
found to be 78.75%, with the majority being contributed by a compared to their female counterparts, and the association
mild level of addiction (56.6%). A severe degree of addiction was also found to be statistically significant (P < 0.005). The
was found only in two students (0.004%). presence of any family‑related stress was another significant
predictor of internet addiction. Among the personal habits,
Table 1 shows the association of different variables with smoking was found to have a significant association with
internet addiction. On analysis, it was revealed that stream internet addiction (P < 0.005).
of the profession, whether medical or engineering, was not
significantly associated with the level of internet addiction, as Table 2 reveals that there was a statistically significant difference in
an almost equal percentage of students from both the streams the mean scores of psychological morbidities, namely depression,
anxiety, and stress among those with different levels of internet
addiction, using ANOVA. Also, the correlation between the two
was positive and was statistically significant (P < 0.05).

21.66% On multiple regression analysis, it was found that variables that

21.25% have an independent significant association with internet addiction
No Addiction
were gender, presence of any family‑related stress, smoking, and
Mild Addiction
the scores of depression, anxiety, and stress [Table 3].
Moderate Addiction
Severe Addiction Discussion
Increasing availability, wider acceptance, and exponential growth
56.66% of the internet have led to an array of effects on the social and
mental well‑being of the users, especially young adults. The
present study was a preliminary step to estimate the prevalence
Figure 1: Distribution of study population according to the severity of of internet addiction and understand the association between the
internet addiction as per Young’s Internet Addiction Scale severity of internet addiction and various factors including the

Table 1: Association of internet addiction with various sociodemographic variables

Variable Category Total No addiction Mild addiction Moderate addiction Severe addiction Chi square Sig.
Course Medical 300 65 (21.6) 176 (58.6) 58 (19.3) 1 (0.33) 2.774 0.428
Engineering 180 37 (20.5) 96 (53.3) 46 (25.5) 1 (0.55)
Semester 2nd 134 33 (24.6) 73 (54.4) 28 (20.8) 0
4th 132 20 (15.1) 81 (61.3) 29 (21.9) 2 (1.51) 10.18 0.336
6th 125 27 (21.6) 68 (54.4) 30 (24) 0
8th 89 22 (24.7) 50 (56.1) 17 (19.1) 0
Gender Males 260 35 (13.4) 152 (58.4) 71 (27.3) 2 (0.76) 26.54 <0.005*
Females 220 67 (30.4) 120 (54.5) 33 (15) 0
Residence Hosteller 195 39 (20) 106 (54.3) 49 (25.1) 1 (0.51) 2.44 0.48
Day Scholar 285 63 (22.1) 166 (58.2) 55 (19.2) 1 (0.35)
Monthly family income <10,000 27 9 (33.3) 13 (48.1) 5 (18.5) 0
10‑25,000 97 24 (24.7) 56 (57.7) 16 (16.4) 1 (1.03) 7.68 0.57
25‑50,000 163 29 (17.7) 93 (57.1) 41 (25.1) 0
>50,000 193 40 (20.7) 110 (56.9) 42 (21.7) 1 (0.51)
Any family‑related stress Yes 357 62 (17.3) 209 (58.5) 84 (23.5) 2 (0.45)
No 123 40 (32.5) 63 (51.2) 20 (16.2) 0 13.67 0.003*
Relation with parents Good 438 99 (22.6) 247 (56.3) 90 (20.5) 2 (0.45)
Usual 40 3 (7.5) 23 (57.5) 14 (35) 0 9.19 0.163
Not Good 2 0 2 (100) 0 0
Family H/O depression or Yes 52 10 (19.2) 28 (53.8) 14 (26.9) 0
any other psychiatric disorder No 428 92 (21.4) 244 (57) 90 (21) 2 (0.46) 1.18 0.76
H/O alcohol consumption in Yes 17 0 11 (64.7) 6 (35.2) 0
the past 2 weeks No 463 102 (22) 261 (56.3) 98 (21.1) 2 (0.43) 5.53 0.14
H/O Smoking in the past Yes 22 1 (4.54) 15 (68.1) 16 (72.7) 0
2 weeks No 458 101 (22.05) 267 (58.2) 88 (19.2) 2 (0.43) 35.55 <0.005*
*Statistically significant (P<0.05).

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 Kumari, et al.: Internet Addiction among professional students

psychological morbidities among professional college students 19.5% and 0.4% were in agreement with the results of the present
in the Jammu region. study. Another important finding that was evident in the present
study was that an almost equal proportion of students from
The prevalence of internet addiction in the present study was both medical and engineering streams were found to suffer from
found to be 78.7%. Mild, moderate, and severe degrees of internet addiction (79.5% vs. 78.4%). This finding is almost in
internet addiction were found in 56.6%, 21.6%, and 0.004% agreement with the results reported by Murarkar et al.,[11] where
of students, respectively. However, contrasting results were the prevalence of addiction was found to be 72% and 82% among
revealed in a study conducted in Nepal, where more than medical and engineering streams, respectively.
half  (51.2%) of the respondents had a moderate‑to‑severe level
of internet addiction.[6] This variation can be explained because The present study revealed that gender was a significant
of the involvement of the younger age group (11–20 years) in determinant of internet addiction, with a higher proportion seen
the Nepal study. A study conducted in Kashmir by Bhat and among male students. Similar results have been reported by various
Kawa[7] revealed the proportion of respondents suffering from other studies conducted in different parts of the country.[7,8,12,13]
mild, moderate, and severe degrees of internet addiction to be However, no relationship between different sociodemographic
profiles with Internet addiction was evident in a study conducted
41.53%, 28.74%, and 30%, respectively. Goel et al.[8] in his study
by Singh et al.[14] A significantly positive correlation of internet
reported 74.5% of the study population as moderate users,
addiction with depression, anxiety, and stress was evident in the
24.8% as possible addicts, and 0.7% as addicts. Another study
present study, the finding supported by various other authors in
among medical students at a major university in Saudi Arabia has
their respective studies.[15‑17] A few other studies also reported that
reported a prevalence of 65.21%[9] In contrast, Gedam et al.[10]
internet addiction is associated with loneliness, depression, anxiety,
reported a very low prevalence of internet addiction of 19.85%.
stress, and low self‑esteem.[18‑20] Another study conducted among
However, moderate and severe degrees of internet usage of medical students in Delhi concluded a strong correlation between
internet addiction, disturbed sleep quality, and depression.[21]
Table 2: Correlation of severity of internet addiction with Further, studies conducted in India and abroad have reported
depression, anxiety, and Stress scores that greater levels of internet use were negatively associated with
Severity of internet DAS scores (mean±SD) physical well‑being.[22,23] An exact relationship between internet
addiction Depression Anxiety Stress addiction and psychological morbidities could not be ascertained.
No addiction 8.43±7.11 8.2±5.45 13.97±5.73 Whether internet addiction predisposes to depression, anxiety,
Mild addiction 10.94±8.44 11.23±7.01 13.74±5.89 and stress or it is the consequence, is yet to be substantiated by
Moderate addiction 12.27±7.91 12.9±6.65 16.33±6.76 undertaking a few cohort studies.
Severe addiction 10.00±11.31 12.0±5.66 25.0±9.99
Mean±SD 10.69±8.14 10.95±5.79 14.39±5.17 The variables found to be significantly associated with internet
ANOVA
addiction on multiple regression analysis in the current study were
F 4.087 9.070 6.76
male gender, presence of any family‑related stress, smoking, and
Sig. 0.007* <0.005* <0.005*
Pearson’s correlation
the presence of psychological morbidities. Male gender, login
r 0.162 0.237 0.175 status, emotional ties, and psychological distress were reported
Sig. <0.005* <0.005* <0.005* to be the main predictors of internet addiction in the study
*Statistically significant (P<0.05) conducted by Gedam et al.[10]

Table 3: Multiple regression analysis of internet addiction

Variable Unstandardized coefficients Standardized coefficient t Significance
B Standard error Beta (P)
Course 2.423 1.543 0.072 1.570 0.117
Semester 0.023 0.321 0.003 0.072 0.943
Gender ‑7.338 1.506 ‑0.225 ‑4.873 0.000*
Residence ‑2.423 1.441 ‑0.073 ‑1.681 0.093
Monthly family income 0.206 0.307 0.116 1.228 0.503
Relation with parents 0.116 2.421 0.002 0.048 0.962
Family H/O depression or any other psychiatric disorder 0.608 2.292 0.012 0.265 0.791
Any family‑related stress ‑3.689 1.644 ‑0.099 ‑2.243 0.025*
H/O alcohol consumption in the past 2 weeks ‑5.269 3.746 ‑0.060 ‑1.407 0.160
H/O Smoking in the past 2 weeks ‑10.074 3.332 ‑0.129 ‑3.023 0.003*
Stress score 0.341 0.127 0.129 2.679 0.008*
Anxiety score 0.355 0.120 0.148 2.955 0.003*
Depression score 0.196 0.089 0.098 2.215 0.027*
*Statistically significant (P<0.05)

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 Kumari, et al.: Internet Addiction among professional students

Limitations prevalence of internet addiction and its association with

psychopathology in Indian adolescents. Indian J Psychiatry
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