Prevalence of Internet Addiction among Medical Students and Its Association with Psychiatric Disorders during 2021

In the post-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) era, messages and video calls with loved ones, family, and friends have brought individuals closer together and made social isolation more bearable. Although the utilization of these tools has numerous positive aspects, there are also negative ones. The present study was conducted to determine the prevalence of Internet addiction among medical students at Golestan University of Medical Sciences and its association with psychiatric disorders.

This descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 189 medical students (73 males and 116 females; mean age=23.35±3.03 years) at Golestan University of Medical Sciences in 2021. A convenience sampling method was used, and all students were taken into account as the statistical population. Data collection tools included Young’s Internet Addiction Test (IAT) and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) short form, which were completed by the students.

Fifty (26.45%) medical students were identified as being at risk of Internet addiction, and 3 (1.58%) students were classified as having Internet addiction. Less than 4% of the students had severe psychiatric disorders, while 9.5% to 19.6% exhibited various psychiatric disorders of moderate severity. Beyond the area of hypochondriasis symptoms, significant positive correlations were found between Internet addiction and increased psychiatric disorders in other areas, including depression (r=0.285, P<0.001), hysteria (r=0.170, P<0.019), psychopathy (r=0.338, P<0.001), paranoia (r=0.384, P<0.001), mania (r=0.336, P<0.001), psychasthenia (r=0.432, P<0.001), and schizophrenia (r=0.415, P<0.001). With increasing Internet addiction, the severity of psychiatric disorders also increased.

The prevalence of Internet addiction among medical students was shown to be at a low level, but the severity of psychiatric disorders increased with higher levels of Internet addiction.