Abstract
Although internet addiction (IA) has been the subject of research in many countries, it is poorly studied in Bangladesh, and previous studies in the country have not examined potential mental health risk factors in relation to the development of IA. The present pilot study attempted to assess the prevalence and associated risk factors of IA among a convenience sample of recently graduated university students actively looking for a job (N = 284) from July to October 2018 in Rajshahi (a city in Bangladesh). The measures included socio-demographic and behavioral variables, the Internet Addiction Test (IAT), and the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale. Surprisingly, no cases of IA were identified in the sample (i.e., the prevalence rate of IA was 0%) which may have been a consequence of the specific population sampled. A total of 3.9% of the participants (n = 11) were classified as excessive users (≥ 60 in IAT). Using regression analysis, the risk factors for excessive internet use were spending more time online (> 5 h daily) and experiencing psychiatric conditions (i.e., depression, stress). It is hoped the present pilot study will facilitate further study in Bangladesh with a more in-depth focus on the socio-demographic and psychiatric morbidities in excessive and problematic internet use. It is also speculated that job-seeking may be a situational protective risk factor for developing IA.
Highlights
Internet use has been increased rapidly around the world along with reports of excessive and uncontrolled use among a minority of internet users
The present pilot study attempted to assess the prevalence and associated risk factors of internet addiction (IA) among a convenience sample of recently graduated university students actively looking for a job (N = 284) from July to October 2018 in Rajshahi
89.1% of the participants were non-smokers, 73.9% did not perform any type of daily physical activity, and 62.8% were normal sleepers
Summary
Internet use has been increased rapidly around the world along with reports of excessive and uncontrolled use among a minority of internet users. Such problematic use has been termed as Binternet addiction^ (Young 1998), and is sometimes based on the core criteria of behavioral addictions such as salience, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, conflict, and relapse (Griffiths 1996, 1998, 2005). Internet addiction has been associated with a number of socio-demographic variables, time and patterns spent online, psychosocial factors, and comorbid symptoms/disorders (Carli et al 2013; Kuss et al 2017; Kuss et al 2014). Generalized IA has been associated with a wide variety of excessive online behaviors including using the internet for academic purposes, communicating via social networking sites, online gaming, accessing online movie and music sites, viewing online sexually explicit materials and pornography, online gambling, and online shopping (Bener et al 2018; Hoare et al 2017; Simcharoen et al 2018; Vigna-Taglianti et al 2017)
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