Predictors of internet addiction among medical students of North India
Abstract Background The prevalence of internet addiction in India varies from 20% to 59% in undergraduate medical students. Therefore this study was planned to assess the prevalence, pattern and reason of internet usage and to assess predictors of internet addiction in medical undergraduate students.Material and Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted on 201 medical undergraduate students in a medical college of North India from April 1st to May 31st, 2019.A self-designed semi-structured and pre tested questionnaire was used to know pattern and reasons associated with internet addiction (IA) and Dr. Kimberly Young’s Internet Addiction Test (IAT) tool was used to measure level of IA. Discriminant analysis was used to assess predictors of internet addiction. Data was recorded in MS Excel and trial version of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (version 27.0; SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL) software was used for statistical analysis. Result Prevalence of internet addiction was found to be 90%, where prevalence of mild IA was 48.8% followed by moderate and severe IA, 38.8% and 2.4% respectively. Predictive accuracy of model based on socio-demographic, social media applications usage, Entertainment site usage, Educational site usage and final model were found to be 61.2%, 63.7%, 63.2%, 61.7% and 66.2% respectively.Conclusion Medical undergraduate students are highly vulnerable for internet addiction. We should create awareness among medical students regarding internet addiction and its potential harms; this could be included in foundation course of curriculum implementation support program (CISP) for MBBS students.