Prevalence of Internet Addiction and Associated Factors Among Medical Students From Mashhad, Iran in 2013

BACKGROUND Problematic internet use is on the increase and has caused serious problems in many areas. This issue seems to be more important for medical students. OBJECTIVES This study was designed to explore the prevalence of internet addiction and its related factors among the students of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. MATERIALS AND METHODS A cross sectional study was conducted on 383 medical students of Mashhad in 2013. Four hundred participants were selected through two-stage stratified sampling method proportional to the number of students in each stage of education. Data Collection was done through using the Chen Internet Addiction Scale (CIAS) and a checklist of demographic details and characteristics of internet usage behavior. RESULTS It was found that 2.1% of the studied population were at risk and 5.2% were addicted users. Chatting with new people, communicating with friends and families, and playing games were the most popular activities in these groups. The factors related to internet addiction included: male sex, stage of education, daily time spent on using internet, most frequent time of internet use, monthly cost of use, and tea consumption. CONCLUSIONS Although our study showed the prevalence of internet addiction was not more than other populations and universities, since the prevalence of internet addiction is rapidly increasing worldwide, this population might also be at risk of addiction. Thus, focusing on related factors can help us in designing more effective interventions and treatments for this susceptible group.