Evaluation of problematic internet use and its relationship with impulsivity in family medicine outpatients

There is no agreed diagnostic criteria for problematic internet use, which is also called internet addiction and pathological internet use. With the rapid spread of the Internet, inappropriate Internet use has also increased. Problematic internet use can be defined as a progressive deterioration in social, work and educational life with unavoidable overuse of the internet, trivialization of time spent without the internet, and excessive anger and aggression in the absence of the internet. Psychiatric disorders such as ADHD, depression, hypomania, OCD, binge eating disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and avoidant personality disorder have been found to accompany problematic internet use at certain rates. Impulsivity is the inability to resist impulses or temptations that could be harmful to oneself or others. Our cross-sectional study was conducted on 403 patients who applied to Eskişehir Osmangazi University Health, Practice and Research Hospital Family Medicine outpatient clinic. Sociodemographic information, problematic internet use and impulsivity findings were questionnaires were applied to the participants. As a result of the study, the total score of the Problematic Internet Use Scale (PIUS) was 70.9±23.3 and the total score of the Barratt Impulsivity Scale-11 was 28.4±6.6. There was a statistically significant positive and weak relationship between the scores obtained from these scales. Although there was no relationship between the presence of chronic disease and problematic internet use, the level of problematic internet use was higher in those with psychiatric illness. It was observed that the level of problematic internet use increased as the time spent on the internet increased and as the time when the internet was mostly used progressed from morning to night. In the multivariate linear regression model in which age, marital status, presence of children and Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS) total score were independent variables, BIS total score significantly predicted PIUS total score in a positive direction.