INTERNET USE BEHAVIOR: EMERGING STUDENT MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEM

Abstract

Background: Internet addiction is emerging community mental health issue. Objective of study was to determine frequency of three types of internet use behaviors, modal reason of internet use and association of internet use behavior to different socio demographic variables.
Material & Methods: This comparative cross-sectional study was conducted in Gomal Medical College from 1st September to 30th September 2018. A sample size of 100 students was chosen through non probability sampling technique. All students were given a questionnaire. Our sociodemographic variables were age, residence, gender, language and socioeconomic status. Research variables were frequency of different internet use behaviors and modal reason of internet use. SPSS version 19 was used for data analysis. Categorical variables were expressed as frequency and percentages and numerical variables expressed as mean and SD. Chi square test was done to see association of internet use behaviors with socio demographic variables.
Results: in this study male and female were both equal in number with 50 each. Majority of them were below 25 yrs of age 99%, hosteler 74%, Pushto speaking 54% and from middle class 78%. Regarding internet use behavior 53% were normal user,45% were problematic user and 2 were addict. Chi square test did not show any significant difference between type of user and sociodemographic characteristics.
Conclusion: In our study frequency of problematic user is high and internet use behavior is not significantly associated to different sociodemographic groups. Entertainment was the most frequent reason for using internet.