Measuring Psychological Effects and Internet Addiction towards Academic Performance of Tertiary Students in Malaysia

Abstract

Excessive use of internet leads to internet addiction, which has numerous negative consequences. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of internet addiction on academic performance and identify the level of internet usage among tertiary students in Malaysia. Approximately 300 survey questionnaires were distributed to get 220 respondents from five different public universities in Malaysia. Based on the literature review, seven hypotheses were derived and tested using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The key findings of this study show that 6.3% male and 3.2% female students are excessive internet users. The model shows that two factors, such as psychological effects, and observable impacts have positive and significant influence on internet addiction. The result also revealed that social comforts and attitudes toward using internet do not have significant influence on internet addiction. However, social comforts and observable impacts have significantly influence on psychological effects. The findings also reveal that internet addiction has a negative and significant influence on academic performance of tertiary students in Malaysia.