Investigation of the relationship between internet usage, anxiety and sleep quality in a group of university students

Objective: To investigate the relationship between internet usage, anxiety and sleep quality. To determine whether if internet usage and anxiety will predict sleep quality. Method: A total of 229 univeristy students (132 females and 97 males) from İstanbul. Participants had ages between 18 and 29. They were studying at goverment and private universities in İstanbul. All participants were given Sociodemographic Data Form, Young Internet Addiction Test, Spielberger Trait Anxiety Scale and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Results: Participants who agreed to take place in our study showed that 219 (95.6%) had no symptoms of internet addiction, 10 (4.4%) were in risk group and no participant had internet addiction. 89 (38.9%) of the participants had good sleep quality and 140 (61.1%) had poor sleep quality. Correlation analysis showed that Young Internet Addiction Test, Spielberger Trait Anxiety Scale and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index were siginificantly correlated. Regression analysis showed that internet addiction predicted sleep quality. In the multiple regression model, trait anxiety was not found to be significant. In sociodemographic variables, purpose of internet usages and perceived socioeconomic levels showed a significant difference on internet addiction. Daily internet usage hours and internet addiction were found to be have significant relationship. No significant relationship or difference was found between sociodemographic variables, trait anixety and sleep quality. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that sleep quality was predicted by internet addiction but it was not predicted by trait anxiety. Contributions of the study, limitations and suggestions for similiar studies are discussed.