P-303 - Internet Addiction Disorder Among Adolescent Students

Abstract

Background:

The Internet addiction disorder(IAD) is conceptualized by an individuals inability to control his or her use of the internet which causes marked distress &/functional impairment.

Aim:

It was a cross-sectional study with aimed to find out the proportion of IAD among adolescent students & association of age,sex, educational level with addiction as well as relation of Internet addiction(IA) to different internet related activities & to determine severity of addiction.

Methods:

The study was conducted purposively from 5 schools & 7 colleges of Dhaka City of Bangladesh from January to June 2011.In total of 797 students(438 were male, 359 were female, mean age:16.47 ± 1.21 years) of grade IX,X & XII were recruited. A self-administered questionnaire & Young's Internet addiction scale were applied.

Results:

Among 797 students,161(20.20%) were found as IAD. Out of 797 respondents,40.15% were school (Grade IX & X) & 59.85% were college students(Grade XII).IA were identified more among elderly adolescent(16–18 years) students(22.6%) & male students were more addicted(24.4%) than female students(15%).There was no relation found between educational level & IA. Association between information seeking behavior(p < 0.05) & chatting(p < 0.01) with IA found but no relation with e-mail, face book & Instant message were established. Among 161 adolescent students who were identified as IAD,60(37.3%) were average user,96(59.6%) were occasional/frequent problematic & 5(3.1%) had significant problem.

Conclusion:

This study demonstrated that IA presents among Bangladeshi urban adolescent students. It will create awareness among teachers, parents, policy maker & students about this addiction.