INTERNET ADDICTION AND ITS RELATION TO STRESS AND DEPRESSION AMONG DUHOK MEDICAL COLLEGE STUDENTS

Abstract

Background: By Jun 2020, 4.6 Billion (59.6% of the total world population) people worldwide were using the internet. Internet is regarded as one of the greatest creations as it provides access to a great amount of knowledge and entertainment. Nevertheless, it can have harmful effects on the physical and emotional health as it has been linked to several psychiatric illnesses, such as, anxiety, depression, insomnia…etc. This study aims to assess the relationship between internet addiction and stress and depression among Duhok-medical college students.Methodology: An online held, cross-sectional study was conducted among students of the University of Duhok-College of medicine; 345 students were involved. The data were collected by a Google form using Internet Addiction Test and DASS 21. The form was used to assess the following: internet addiction, stress and depression, along with socio-demographic data. Data were analyzed using SPSS and a p-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: The prevalence of IA, stress and depression among the sample was 74.8%, 42.9% and 59.7%, respectively. The p-value for the relation between the age groups and gender and IA, stress and depression was >0.5. However, it was found that internet addiction had a highly significant effect on stress and depression (p<0.0001).Conclusion: The prevalence of internet addiction was found to be high with a positively statistically significant relation to depressive and stressful traits among medical students. However, no significant relation between the genders nor the different age groups regarding internet addiction was found.