Associations Between Uncertainty Stress, Life Stress and Internet Addiction Among Medical Students

Internet Addiction (IA) is a growing issue predominate in adolescents and young adults. Although the effects of diverse stressors on IA have been highlighted, there is little consensus about the specific underpinnings of IA. The current study aims to investigate associations between uncertainty stress, life stress and IA among Chinese university medical students.

A cross-sectional survey employing multi-stage sampling was used. Data were collected from 6,061 students from 27 university medical programs across China. Associations between uncertainty stress, life stress, and IA were examined by means of multivariate logistic regression.

The findings indicated that the overall IA prevalence was 12.6% (95% CI 11.7-13.5), life stress prevalence was 8.1% (95% CI 7.4-8.8), and uncertainty stress prevalence was 19.1% (95% CI 18.1-20.1). Multivariate logistic regression showed that uncertainty stress [adjusted OR 2.60 (95% CI 2.14-3.15), P < 0.001] and life stress [adjusted OR 1.71 (95% CI 1.32-2.23), P < 0.001] were positively associated with IA. Population Attributable Risk (PAR) of uncertainty stress associated with IA was 29%, and that of life stress was 15%.

The contribution of uncertainty stress to IA is significantly higher than that of life stress. High uncertainty stress, being male and born in a region of higher economic status were associated with excessive Internet use and IA.