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Evaluation of the relationship between internet addiction and depression in university students

Objective: To assess the Internet addiction and depression level in university students. Methods: The present study is a cross-sectional study conducted on the students of Sakarya University between 05 April and 05 July 2012. After the departments were selected by casting lots, 994 students who were randomly selected from each class constituted the study group. Students in the classrooms were informed about the objective and purpose of the study. Then they were asked to complete the previously prepared questionnaire under supervision. In the current study, the Internet Addiction Scale was used in order to assess the Internet addiction. The higher scores obtained in the scale represent higher level of Internet addiction. Depression was assessed with the Beck Depression Inventory. Students with a score of 17 and above were regarded to have suspected depression. Data were assessed in SPSS (version 15.0) Statistics Package Program on the computer. Student's t-test, One-Way Analysis of Variance and Spearman's Correlation Analysis were used for analyses. Statistical significance value was taken as p<0.05. Results: The study group consisted of 573 (57.6%) females and 421 (42.4%) males. They were aged between 18 and 26 with a mean age of 21.10 ± 1.71 years. The scores obtained by the students from the Internet Addiction Scale ranged between 0-90 with a mean score of 20.04±12.85. The scores obtained from the Beck Depression Inventory ranged between 0-53 with a mean score of 11.32±9.23. In our study, frequency of suspected depression was determined to be 23.0% (n=229). In the present study, Internet addiction level was determined to be higher in males, those with high family income, those staying in dormitory, smokers, those with an extroverted personality, those having Internet access, those using Internet once a day or more and students with suspected depression (p<0.05 for each). Discussion: Internet addiction is an important health problem in university students. A significant relationship was determined between Internet addiction and depression.