ABSTRACT
Worldwide
Internet addiction is a newly emerging mental health and social issue among the
youths causing neurological complications, psychological disturbances and
social problems. Internet addicts make the Internet urgency more vital than
family, friends and work. Several studies exposed that anxiety, backache,
blurred vision, dry eyes, headache, sleep disturbance, depression, poor
academic performance etc. are results of Internet addiction. Therefore, the
objective of this study was to determine the Internet addiction as well as its
psychological distress and depression among university undergraduate students
of Bangladesh. The study was conducted among 475 students selected from five
universities of Bangladesh from July 2015 to September 2015. The selected
universities were Southeast University, University of South Asia, Primeasia
University, Northern University Bangladesh and State University of Bangladesh.
Each willing participants were subject of this study and they shared their
opinion. The Young’s Internet Addiction Test (IAT), the General Health
Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-2) were used to
determine Internet addiction, psychological distress and depression
respectively. Results revealed that the university students showed varying
degrees of Internet addiction, psychological distress and depression with
respect to sex, age, year of study and residential status. The data revealed
that 47.7% (127) male and 44.5% (93) female students showed severe Internet
addiction followed by 27.1% (72) male and 33.9% (71) female students showed
moderate Internet addiction, while 20.7% (55) male and 7.7% (16) female students
had mild Internet addiction. The linkage between Internet addiction and sex was
significant at P < 0.001. Furthermore,
29.7% (79) male and 32.5% (68) female students had psychological distress.
Severe psychological depression was reported among 44.7% (119) male and 41.6%
(87) female students. Equally year of study and residential status showed
significant (P < 0.001; P < 0.05, P < 0.001) differences in Internet addiction and psychological
depression. This study observed that university undergraduate students are at
very close to the danger of Internet addiction and its pathological impact on
psychological distress and depression. Therefore, the new generation is at
great risk. However, without Internet scientific thinking is not possible. So
only the rational use of the Internet can be fruitful in the long run.
Share and Cite:
Uddin, M. , Mamun, A. , Iqbal, M. , Nasrullah, M. , Asaduzzaman, M. , Sarwar, M. and Amran, M. (2016) Internet Addiction Disorder and Its Pathogenicity to Psychological Distress and Depression among University Students: A Cross-Sectional Pilot Study in Bangladesh.
Psychology,
7, 1126-1137. doi:
10.4236/psych.2016.78113.