Prevalence and factors associated with internet addiction among medical students - a cross-sectional study in Malaysia
Introduction: Internet is important to university students, especially for medical students who use it to search for literature and relevant information. However, some of the users are experiencing a gradual loss of the ability to reduce the duration and frequency of their internet activities, despi...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Malaysian Medical Association
2017
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| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/56855/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/56855/1/Prevalence%20and%20factors%20associated%20with%20internet%20addiction%20among%20medical%20students%20-%20a%20cross-sectional%20study%20in%20Malaysia.pdf |
| _version_ | 1848853202457329664 |
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| author | Ching, Siew Mooi Awang, Hamidin Ramachandran, Vasudevan Mohd Sazlly Lim, Sazlyna Wan Sulaiman, Wan Aliaa Foo, Yoke Loong Yee, Anne Hoo, Fan Kee |
| author_facet | Ching, Siew Mooi Awang, Hamidin Ramachandran, Vasudevan Mohd Sazlly Lim, Sazlyna Wan Sulaiman, Wan Aliaa Foo, Yoke Loong Yee, Anne Hoo, Fan Kee |
| author_sort | Ching, Siew Mooi |
| building | UPM Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Introduction: Internet is important to university students, especially for medical students who use it to search for literature and relevant information. However, some of the users are experiencing a gradual loss of the ability to reduce the duration and frequency of their internet activities, despite the negative consequences. The literature on internet usage among Malaysian medical students is limited. This study aims to determine the prevalence and factors associated with internet usage among medical students in a public university in Malaysia.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed among all the medical students (Year 1-5). Students were assessed on their internet activities using the internet addiction questionnaires (IAT). A Multiple Logistic Regression was used for data analysis.
Results: The study was conducted among 426 students. The study population consisted of 156 males (36.6%) and 270 females (63.4%). The mean age was 21.6 ±1.5 years. Ethnicity distribution among the students was: Malays (55.6%), Chinese (34.7%), Indians (7.3%) and others (2.3%). According to the IAT, 36.9% of the study sample was addicted to the internet. Using the multivariate logistic regression analysis, we have found that the use of internet access for entertainment purposes (odds ratio [OR] 3.5, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.05-12.00), male students (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.01-3.21) and increasing frequency of internet usage were associated with internet addiction (OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.09-1.67).
Conclusion: Internet addiction is a relatively frequent phenomenon among medical students. The predictors of internet addiction were male students using it for surfing and entertainment purposes. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-15T10:50:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | upm-56855 |
| institution | Universiti Putra Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-15T10:50:13Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Malaysian Medical Association |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | upm-568552017-09-05T09:57:01Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/56855/ Prevalence and factors associated with internet addiction among medical students - a cross-sectional study in Malaysia Ching, Siew Mooi Awang, Hamidin Ramachandran, Vasudevan Mohd Sazlly Lim, Sazlyna Wan Sulaiman, Wan Aliaa Foo, Yoke Loong Yee, Anne Hoo, Fan Kee Introduction: Internet is important to university students, especially for medical students who use it to search for literature and relevant information. However, some of the users are experiencing a gradual loss of the ability to reduce the duration and frequency of their internet activities, despite the negative consequences. The literature on internet usage among Malaysian medical students is limited. This study aims to determine the prevalence and factors associated with internet usage among medical students in a public university in Malaysia. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed among all the medical students (Year 1-5). Students were assessed on their internet activities using the internet addiction questionnaires (IAT). A Multiple Logistic Regression was used for data analysis. Results: The study was conducted among 426 students. The study population consisted of 156 males (36.6%) and 270 females (63.4%). The mean age was 21.6 ±1.5 years. Ethnicity distribution among the students was: Malays (55.6%), Chinese (34.7%), Indians (7.3%) and others (2.3%). According to the IAT, 36.9% of the study sample was addicted to the internet. Using the multivariate logistic regression analysis, we have found that the use of internet access for entertainment purposes (odds ratio [OR] 3.5, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.05-12.00), male students (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.01-3.21) and increasing frequency of internet usage were associated with internet addiction (OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.09-1.67). Conclusion: Internet addiction is a relatively frequent phenomenon among medical students. The predictors of internet addiction were male students using it for surfing and entertainment purposes. Malaysian Medical Association 2017 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/56855/1/Prevalence%20and%20factors%20associated%20with%20internet%20addiction%20among%20medical%20students%20-%20a%20cross-sectional%20study%20in%20Malaysia.pdf Ching, Siew Mooi and Awang, Hamidin and Ramachandran, Vasudevan and Mohd Sazlly Lim, Sazlyna and Wan Sulaiman, Wan Aliaa and Foo, Yoke Loong and Yee, Anne and Hoo, Fan Kee (2017) Prevalence and factors associated with internet addiction among medical students - a cross-sectional study in Malaysia. Medical Journal of Malaysia, 72 (1). pp. 7-11. ISSN 0300-5283 http://www.e-mjm.org/2017/v72n1/index.html |
| spellingShingle | Ching, Siew Mooi Awang, Hamidin Ramachandran, Vasudevan Mohd Sazlly Lim, Sazlyna Wan Sulaiman, Wan Aliaa Foo, Yoke Loong Yee, Anne Hoo, Fan Kee Prevalence and factors associated with internet addiction among medical students - a cross-sectional study in Malaysia |
| title | Prevalence and factors associated with internet addiction among medical students - a cross-sectional study in Malaysia |
| title_full | Prevalence and factors associated with internet addiction among medical students - a cross-sectional study in Malaysia |
| title_fullStr | Prevalence and factors associated with internet addiction among medical students - a cross-sectional study in Malaysia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Prevalence and factors associated with internet addiction among medical students - a cross-sectional study in Malaysia |
| title_short | Prevalence and factors associated with internet addiction among medical students - a cross-sectional study in Malaysia |
| title_sort | prevalence and factors associated with internet addiction among medical students - a cross-sectional study in malaysia |
| url | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/56855/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/56855/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/56855/1/Prevalence%20and%20factors%20associated%20with%20internet%20addiction%20among%20medical%20students%20-%20a%20cross-sectional%20study%20in%20Malaysia.pdf |