Internet addiction and psychological well-being among college students: A cross-sectional study from Central India

BACKGROUND: Internet provides tremendous educational benefits for college students and also provided better opportunities for communication, information, and social interaction for young adults; however, excessive internet use can lead to negative psychological well-being (PWB). OBJECTIVE: The present study was conducted with the objective to find out the relationship between internet addiction and PWB of college students. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A multicenter cross-sectional study was carried out in college students of Jabalpur city of Madhya Pradesh, India. A total of 461 college students, using internet for at least past 6 months were included in this study. Young's Internet addiction scale, consisting of 20-item, based on five-point Likert scale was used to calculate internet addiction scores and 42-item version of the Ryff's PWB scale based on six-point scale was used in this study. RESULTS: A total of 440 questionnaire forms were analyzed. The mean age of students was 19.11 (±1.540) years, and 62.3% were male. Internet addiction was significantly negatively correlated to PWB (r = –0.572, P < 0.01) and subdimensions of PWB. Students with higher levels of internet addiction are more likely to be low in PWB. Simple linear regression showed that internet addiction was a significant negative predictor of PWB. CONCLUSION: PWB of college students negatively affected by internet addiction. Hence, it is essential to develop strategies for prevention of internet addiction which is very important for promoting PWB of college students.