Evaluation of internet addiction, depression and anxiety situation together with affecting factors in İnonu University students in coronavirus disease period

Aim: COVID-19 has also affected university students in our country. Due to reasons, such as quarantine applications and distance education, university students have turned to technological devices such as cell phones and computers. This caused them to spend more time on the internet. In this study, it is aimed to determine whether there are changes in internet addiction, depression and anxiety levels of university students in the period of COVID-19. Material and Method: The universe of this study, which is descriptive type and cross-sectional, consists of 25240 undergraduate students who studied at Inonu University during the study period. The sample size was determined as 337 participants at a confidence interval of 95% and a statistical power of 80%, considering that the internet addiction rate of the reference study was 67.6%. The questionnaire form included the sociodemographic characteristics of students, data concerning their internet usage, the Young Internet Addiction Test, the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory. For statistical analysis, the chi-squared test, Mann−Whitney U test, Kruskal−Wallis Analysis of Variance, Spearman's Correlation Test, Multilayer Perceptron Neural Network Model, Multivariable Logistic Regression Model were used. Results: The median internet addiction (IA) score of men is significantly higher than women (p<0.001), and the median score of students with an income of 9001TL and above was significantly higher than other students (p=0.029). Students whose average internet use is 8 hours or more and students who smoke and drink alcohol have higher IA scores than other students (p<0.001, p=0.016, p=0.001). Conclusion: Gender, income level, average daily internet usage time, cigarette and alcohol use increased internet addiction scores. University Administrations need to make the necessary organizations and arrangements to protect university students from addictive things such as the internet, cigarette and alcohol.