Frequency of internet addiction and related factors among Başkent University students

Internet that reaches to a wide audience nowadays, is being used in an extensive aspect especially by the young people. This type of utilization can cause uncontrolled internet usage in time among some of the users and lead to develop an addicted behaviour with symptoms of deprivation in the absence of internet. The term of "Internet Addiction" as a clinical definition has been used since 90s. Negative psychological, behavioral and also social effects of internet addiction among people are inevitable. The aim of this study is to investigate level of internet addiction and related factor among university students. This study is designed as a research involving 397 university students who were randomly selected and agreed to join the study between May-July 2014. All of them were being educated in Başkent University Bağlıca Campus. A 26 item questionnaire and 20 item Young Internet Addiction Scale were used to measure the sociodemographic traits, hobbies during leisure time, information regarding the use of internet and weekly study duration among all participants. 75.6 % of the students were classified as "non-dependent" , whereas 22.6% defined as "likely dependent" and 1.8% as "dependent". Internet addiction level of the participants whose parents were divorced/deceased compared to the married ones and students using alcohol and cigarette compared to non-users were found to be higher. Moreover internet addiction level of students using internet during their leisure time compared to the ones attending any kind of activity was found to be significantly higher. In addition to this, age of meeting internet among participants and Young Internet Addiction Scale scores were inversely related and statistically significant. There was no statistical difference between internet addiction level and time spent on web sites about e-mail, game, shopping, news, movie and education while duration of social media use and internet addiction were found to be statistically related. As a result, internet addiction level defined in Başkent University was similar to the rates found across Europe. Determining internet addiction and related factors plays a key role to prevent this addiction and also its physical, psychosocial and cognitive side effects among societies who are under risk.