Prevalence of excessive internet use and its correlation with associated psychopathology in 11th and 12th grade students

Abstract

BackgroundGlobally, the number of internet users has crossed the three-billion mark, while in India users grew over 17% in the first 6 months of 2015 to 354 million. This study presented a background on internet use and the existence of excessive internet use.AimTo study the extent of internet use in 11th and 12 grade students and the psychopathology, if any, associated with excessive internet use.Methods426 students who met the inclusion criteria were recruited from 11th and 12th grade classes from Kendriya Vidyalaya, New Delhi, India, and were assessed by Young’s Internet Addiction Test and the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire.ResultsAmong the 426 students, the mean internet addiction total score was 36.63 (20.78), which indicated mild level of internet addiction. 1.41% (six students) was diagnosed as excessive internet users, while 30.28% and 23.94% were classified as moderate and mild internet users, respectively. The prevalence of internet addiction between gender was 58.22% in males and 41.78% in females. While both positive (prosocial) and negative (hyperactivity, emotional, conduct and peer problem) impacts of internet use were reported by students, in the current study excessive use of internet had a negative impact on students’ lives as compared with positive impact, which was statistically significant (p<0.0001).ConclusionExcessive internet use led to abnormal behaviours which cause negative consequences to users. Early diagnosis of risk factors related to excessive internet use, provides education about responsible use and supervision of students by family members.

Comparative evaluation of internet addiction amongst arts, commerce, engineering and medical students

“…According to study by Kumar et al, excessive internet users were more in commerce and humanities as compared to science and majority of science students were normal users. 9 Present study has got results contrary to this study which might be due to different sample size and region of study. Asiri et al, in their study points out that males are more efficient at using internet, receive lesser supervision by parents and end up using internet more for entertainment needs in comparison to females which increases their potential risk for internet addiction.…”

“…Globally, the number of internet users has crossed the three-billion mark, while in India users grew over 17% in the first 6 months of 2015 to 354 million. 9 An article published way back in The Guardian in March 2008 said "Addiction to internet 'is an illness' and evidence shows that heavy users suffer isolation, fatigue and withdrawal symptoms. 10 12 Jain et al observed the prevalence of internet addiction was 93.3%.…”

Screen use habits among children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders: A cross-sectional study from Turkey

“…A community-based study reported a relationship between pathological internet use and SDQ total difficulty score and conduct problems (Ozturk, Ekinci, Ozturk, & Canan, 2013). In another study, 11 th and 12 th -grade students reported that excessive internet use had both positive (prosocial) and negative impacts (peer problems, conduct problems, emotional problems, and hyperactivity) on the SDQ (Kumar et al, 2019). Adolescents with PIU had significantly higher scores on SDQ in comparison to controls on conduct problems, hyperactivity, emotional symptoms, and total difficulty domains and lower scores on the prosocial behaviors domain (Cao et al, 2011).…”

Burden of internet addiction, social anxiety and social phobia among University students, India

“…[ 38 ] Kumar et al reported the prevalence of internet addiction among 11 th /12 th students as mild in 23.9%, moderate in 30.3% and severe in 1.4%. [ 39 ]…”