The Relationship between Anxiety, Depression, and Problematic Internet Use among a Sample of university students in Egypt

Abstract

Objective:Problematic Internet Use (PIU) is a growing problem among adolescents. This study was designed to investigate the prevalence of PIU and to explore the relationship between anxiety, depression ,and PIU among sample of Egyptian university students. Methods:A cross-sectional survey was conducted from February 2017 to January 2018on a random sample of 588 students selected from four faculties in Sohag University. PIU was assessed by the 20-item Young Internet Addiction Test (YIAT). Information was also collected on demographics, family and school-related factors and Internet usage patterns. Taylor's Manifest Anxiety Scale was used as a general indicator of anxiety.Beck depression inventorywas used for measuring the existence and the severity of depression. Results: Findings showed that the prevalence of PIU among the studied population was 35.2%.About 86.9% of Students with PIU significantly had anxietyalso, 85.02% of Students with PIU significantly had Depression. Depression, Availability of internet at home, Anxiety,presence of computer at home, using Internet for chatting , high monthly income , young age, Theoretical faculties , using Internet for chatting and Male gender were the most important predictors of PIU. Conclusion:PIU prevalent disorder among undergraduate university studentsin Egypt. Clinicians and health professionals should be aware of the risk of PIUin students with Anxiety and Depression.

Internet Addiction and Its Associated Factors Among African High School and University Students: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…To examine the association of internet addiction with sex, 14 studies were included (Kamal and Mosallem, 2013 ; Alhajjar, 2014 ; Shaheen and Farahat, 2016 ; Effat et al, 2019 ; Arafa et al, 2020 ; Boudabous et al, 2020 ; Ebrahim Essa and Elsherif, 2020 ; Mboya et al, 2020 ; Salama, 2020 ; Zenebe et al, 2020 ; Abd El-Mawgood et al, 2021 ; Ilesanmi et al, 2021 ; Omoyemiju and Popoola, 2021 ; Study and Mengistu, 2021 ). Among these, 10 studies reported a significantly higher odds of internet addiction among male adolescents (Alhajjar, 2014 ; Shaheen and Farahat, 2016 ; Effat et al, 2019 ; Arafa et al, 2020 ; Boudabous et al, 2020 ; Ebrahim Essa and Elsherif, 2020 ; Salama, 2020 ; Ilesanmi et al, 2021 ; Omoyemiju and Popoola, 2021 ; Study and Mengistu, 2021 ). The pooled estimate showed a significant association between sex and internet addiction.…”

“…In a meta-analysis of five studies (Shaheen and Farahat, 2016 ; Effat et al, 2019 ; Ebrahim Essa and Elsherif, 2020 ; Salama, 2020 ; Abd El-Mawgood et al, 2021 ), adolescents that reside in urban areas are 2 times more likely to have internet addiction as compared to those who reside in rural areas (POR = 2.32, 95% CI:1.19–4.53). Moderate heterogeneity was observed in the random-effects model (I 2 = 59.39%, P -value = 0.08) ( Figure 4 ).…”

“…Literature shows that different factors predispose adolescents to internet addiction: including urban residence, presence of internet at home (Effat et al, 2019 ; Abd El-Mawgood et al, 2021 ), gender (Akpunne et al, 2020 ; Nyaga, 2020 ), spending more hours on the internet (Abd et al, 2017 ; Fantaw, 2021 ; Kapus et al, 2021 ), using internet for entertainment, pornography and online gaming (Seo et al, 2009 ; Asrese and Muche, 2020 ; Zenebe et al, 2020 ), and substance use (Tran et al, 2017 ; Zenebe et al, 2020 ; Kapus et al, 2021 ).…”

Psychiatric morbidity and dietary habits during COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study among Egyptian Youth (14–24 years)

“…Based on a prevalence rate of 58.0 % for depression symptoms among Egyptian youth with a mean age of 20.18 ± 1.50 years [ 8 ], using 5% accepted degree of precision, α of 0.05 and power of 95%, the minimum required sample size was 375 participants. The sample size increased up to 447 participants.…”

Prevalence of internet addiction and its associated factors among medical students at Taiba University, Saudi Arabia

“…[ 3 ] In the previous studies from the Middle East and Asia, the prevalence of internet addiction among adolescent and university students varies from 0.9% to as high as 33%. [ 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 ] Previous study in Saudi Arabia found that 1.9%–3.1% of medical students were classified as internet addicted. [ 12 13 ] This study aimed to determine the prevalence of internet addiction and its associated factors among medical students at Taibah University in Madinah, KSA.…”