Internet Addiction and Psychological Health in Adolescent Indian Medical Students: A Cross-sectional Study

With the presence of the internet in daily life, it has become crucial to explore its purposes, implications, and effects on the mental health of users. As adolescents are a vulnerable age group, this study was conducted on Indian medical students in late adolescence to learn how the internet impacts their lives. We aim to explore the severity of problematic internet use (PIU) in Indian medical students. We intend to assess its effects on psychological health and loneliness and correlate PIU with the purpose of using the internet.

A total of 185 first-year MBBS students of Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (mean age: 18.07 years) were recruited and administered four questionnaires: Young's internet addiction test (YIAT20), UCLA loneliness questionnaire (version 3), general health questionnaire (GHQ12), and a self-administered questionnaire (to assess the purpose of internet usage).

Out of 185 students, 67 were average users with complete control of their internet use, and 118 had PIU (113 with frequent, 5 with significant problems). PIU showed a significant positive correlation with psychological morbidity (r=0.34, P<0.0001) and loneliness (r=0.20, P=0.01). Daily mean use of the internet was mostly for social media (51.2%), followed by academics (20%), others (20%), and gaming (8.2%). PIU was significantly and positively correlated to social media usage (r=0.27, P=0.00) and negatively correlated to academics (r=-0.37, P<0.0001).

In our study, PIU was positively correlated to poor psychological health, loneliness, and use of social media. It showed a negative correlation with academics. This situation may suggest that PIU is linked to psychosocial implications. It may be worthwhile to correlate the purpose of use with the severity of PIU. Social media seems important in India as opposed to China, where gaming is the major concern. As some activities could be more addictive than others and result in a dysfunctional lifestyle, internet use must be regulated and used judiciously.