Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Jan-Feb;36(2):229-233.
doi: 10.12669/pjms.36.2.1061.

Relationship between internet addiction and academic performance of undergraduate medical students of Azad Kashmir

Arslaan Javaeed  1 , Raheema Jeelani  2 , Shazia Gulab  3 , Sanniya Khan Ghauri  4
Affiliations

Relationship between internet addiction and academic performance of undergraduate medical students of Azad Kashmir

Arslaan Javaeed et al. Pak J Med Sci. 2020 Jan-Feb.

Abstract

Objective: To assess the relationship between internet addiction (IA) and academic performance among the medical students of Azad Kashmir, Pakistan.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was done involving 316 medical students of Poonch Medical College, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan from May 2018 to November 2018. Dr. Young's Internet Addiction Test questionnaire was used as the tool of data collection. The questionnaire contained twenty 5-points Likert scale questions to assess internet addiction. IA score was calculated and the association between IA and academic performance was observed by Spearman Rank Correlation test. Relationship between baseline characteristics of the medical students and IA was also seen.

Results: Eighty-nine (28.2%) medical students fell under the category of 'severe addiction' and most importantly only 3 (0.9%) were not internet addicted according to Dr. Young's questionnaire. Internet addicted medical students scored significantly poor in their exams (p. <.001). One hundred thirty one (41.4%) students with a median IA score of 45 scored in the range of 61-70% marks as compared to 3 (0.9%) students with a median IA score of 5, secured greater than 80% marks.

Conclusion: This study and many other previous studies have revealed that internet addiction affects academic performance. The number of internet users is ever increasing therefore, the number of internet misusers will also increase. If no step is taken to control internet addiction, it may cause a serious impact in the future.

Keywords: Academic performance; Azad Kashmir; Internet addiction; KAP study; Medical students.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: None.

Figures

Fig.1
Fig.1
Distribution of all respondents by the level of internet addiction.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Chaudhari B, Menon P, Saldanha D, Tewari A, Bhattacharya L. Internet addiction and its determinants among medical students. Ind Psychiatry J. 2015;24(2):158–162. doi:10.4103/0972-6748.181729. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chathoth V, Kodavanji B, Arunkumar N, Pai SR. Internet behaviour pattern in undergraduate medical students in Mangalore. Int J Innovative Res Sci Eng Tech. 2013;2(6):2133–2136.
    1. Haque M, Rahman NA, Majumder MA, Haque SZ, Kamal ZM, Islam Z, et al. Alattraqchi AG. Internet use and addiction among medical students of Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Malaysia. Psychol Res Behav Manag. 2016;9:297–307. doi:10.2147/PRBM.S119275. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chou C, Hsiao MC. Internet addiction, usage, gratification, and pleasure experience:The Taiwan college students'case. Computers Educ. 2000;35(1):65–80.
    1. Niaz U. Addiction with internet and mobile:An overview. J Pak Psychiatr Soc. 2008;5(2):72.

LinkOut - more resources