Abstract
Background Problematic Internet use is characterized by excessive or poorly controlled preoccupations, urges, or behavior regarding computer use and Internet access which lead to impairment or distress. It has been found that the occurrence rate of problematic Internet use among university students ranges from 0.8% to 47.7%. Despite this, there are multiple challenges that relate to problematic Internet use, which remain underrecognized and largely ignored by stakeholders and are not well known, especially in low-income countries, including Ethiopia. Therefore, this study was conducted aiming to assess the prevalence of problematic Internet use and its associated factors among undergraduate students. Methods Cross-sectional study was employed from May 1st to June 1st, 2019. A multistage sampling technique was used to get a total of 846 undergraduate students. Data were collected by using self-administered structured questionnaires of Young's Internet Addiction Test. The collected data were coded and entered into EpiData 3.1 and analyzed by using SPSS version 22; bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify factors associated with problematic Internet use, and statistical significance was considered at P value <0.05. Results For a total of 846 study participants, the response rate was 761 (90%) and the prevalence of problematic Internet use was 19.4%. Multiple logistic regression model revealed that being male [AOR = 1.69, 95% CI: 1.80, 6.41], depression [AOR = 3.61, 95% CI: 2.40, 5.43], and khat or caffeinated drinks [AOR = 1.86, 95% CI: 1.21, 2.87] were significantly associated with problematic Internet use. Conclusion This study revealed that there was high prevalence of problematic Internet use among Dilla University students and there were various factors associated with increased prevalence of problematic Internet use. Therefore, students need to be educated about the safe, valuable, and healthy practices of Internet use. Furthermore, it is better to counsel on substance use and its consequences to overcome the anticipated increase in problematic Internet use.
Highlights
Internet is growing worldwide for information and is a userfriendly communication medium that is a cost-effective and useful tool in education [1]
It has been found that the occurrence rate of problematic Internet use among university students ranges from 0.8% to 47.7% [9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17]
Self-administered, well-structured, and organized English version questionnaire was disseminated to students, and data were collected from each student at classroom and this process lasted between 30 and 40 min. e questionnaires comprised nine parts; the first part consisted of sociodemographic details; a structured questionnaire was used to assess sociodemographic characteristics. e second part includes Internet access and experience related factors which had three items; the third part consisted of data on the outcome of interest, that is, the problematic Internet use, which was collected by using Internet Addiction Test (IAT)
Summary
Problematic Internet use is characterized by excessive or poorly controlled preoccupations, urges, or behavior regarding computer use and Internet access which lead to impairment or distress. It has been found that the occurrence rate of problematic Internet use among university students ranges from 0.8% to 47.7%. Erefore, this study was conducted aiming to assess the prevalence of problematic Internet use and its associated factors among undergraduate students. E collected data were coded and entered into EpiData 3.1 and analyzed by using SPSS version 22; bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify factors associated with problematic Internet use, and statistical significance was considered at P value
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