Prevalence and factors associated with internet addiction among adolescents in Malaysia: a cross-sectional study
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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Indian Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health
2020
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| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/87267/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/87267/1/Prevalence%20and%20factors%20associated%20with%20internet%20addiction.pdf |
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| author | Chor, Yau Ooi Ching, Siew Mooi Ali, Norsiah Sidek, Shahnul Kamal Amat, Azlin Yatim, Yusnita Yahaya, Zaiton Shamsuddin, Nabihah Ibrahim, Idora Abdul Majid, Fauzia Othman, Fazlin Suhana Zakaria, Nik Suhaila Abidin, Artini Talib, Nor Hazlin |
| author_facet | Chor, Yau Ooi Ching, Siew Mooi Ali, Norsiah Sidek, Shahnul Kamal Amat, Azlin Yatim, Yusnita Yahaya, Zaiton Shamsuddin, Nabihah Ibrahim, Idora Abdul Majid, Fauzia Othman, Fazlin Suhana Zakaria, Nik Suhaila Abidin, Artini Talib, Nor Hazlin |
| author_sort | Chor, Yau Ooi |
| 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 | 2025-11-15T12:44:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | upm-87267 |
| institution | Universiti Putra Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-15T12:44:40Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publisher | Indian Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | upm-872672022-02-03T05:01:12Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/87267/ Prevalence and factors associated with internet addiction among adolescents in Malaysia: a cross-sectional study Chor, Yau Ooi Ching, Siew Mooi Ali, Norsiah Sidek, Shahnul Kamal Amat, Azlin Yatim, Yusnita Yahaya, Zaiton Shamsuddin, Nabihah Ibrahim, Idora Abdul Majid, Fauzia Othman, Fazlin Suhana Zakaria, Nik Suhaila Abidin, Artini Talib, Nor Hazlin 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. Indian Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health 2020-04 Article PeerReviewed text en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/87267/1/Prevalence%20and%20factors%20associated%20with%20internet%20addiction.pdf Chor, Yau Ooi and Ching, Siew Mooi and Ali, Norsiah and Sidek, Shahnul Kamal and Amat, Azlin and Yatim, Yusnita and Yahaya, Zaiton and Shamsuddin, Nabihah and Ibrahim, Idora and Abdul Majid, Fauzia and Othman, Fazlin Suhana and Zakaria, Nik Suhaila and Abidin, Artini and Talib, Nor Hazlin (2020) Prevalence and factors associated with internet addiction among adolescents in Malaysia: a cross-sectional study. Journal of Indian Association for Child & Adolescent Mental Health, 16 (2). 33 - 44. ISSN 0973-1342 https://jiacam.org/ojs/index.php/JIACAM/issue/view/58 |
| spellingShingle | Chor, Yau Ooi Ching, Siew Mooi Ali, Norsiah Sidek, Shahnul Kamal Amat, Azlin Yatim, Yusnita Yahaya, Zaiton Shamsuddin, Nabihah Ibrahim, Idora Abdul Majid, Fauzia Othman, Fazlin Suhana Zakaria, Nik Suhaila Abidin, Artini Talib, Nor Hazlin Prevalence and factors associated with internet addiction among adolescents in Malaysia: a cross-sectional study |
| title | Prevalence and factors associated with internet addiction among adolescents in Malaysia: a cross-sectional study |
| title_full | Prevalence and factors associated with internet addiction among adolescents in Malaysia: a cross-sectional study |
| title_fullStr | Prevalence and factors associated with internet addiction among adolescents in Malaysia: a cross-sectional study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Prevalence and factors associated with internet addiction among adolescents in Malaysia: a cross-sectional study |
| title_short | Prevalence and factors associated with internet addiction among adolescents in Malaysia: a cross-sectional study |
| title_sort | prevalence and factors associated with internet addiction among adolescents in malaysia: a cross-sectional study |
| url | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/87267/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/87267/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/87267/1/Prevalence%20and%20factors%20associated%20with%20internet%20addiction.pdf |