The Effects of Internet Addiction, Mental Health and Spiritual Well-being of Students at Qom University

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Associate Professor, Literature &Human Sciences Faculty, University of Qom, Qom, Iran.

2 Assitant Professor, Literature &Human Sciences Faculty, University of Qom, Qom, Iran

Abstract

Purpose: Nowadays, the use of the Internet and virtual space is of particular interest among all social groups and affects the values, attitudes and cultural identity of the community and also brings about undesirable consequences and effects. This paper aimed to determine the relationship between Internet addiction and mental health and spiritual well-being of students at Qom University.
Methodology: descriptive and multivariate correlation. The statistical population consisted of students from Qom University selected by stratified random sampling. Data were then collected through three questionnaires (Internet addiction and mental health and spiritual well-being) whose validity and reliability were calculated.
Findings: there was multiple and meaningful relationships between Internet addiction (social problems, lack of control, chat routine abuse, neglecting occupational and educational tasks) and mental health (physical, anxiety and insomnia, poor social functioning and depression) with spiritual health of students.
Conclusion: Students’ productivity is down as a consequence of extreme use of the Internet and they even get disturbed if they step down from the Internet. In fact, they may suffer from mental disorders such as loneliness, depression and loss of meaning in life resulting in harmful consequences for society and the university.
 
 

Keywords

References

  1. Asgari, P; Roshani, KH; Mehri Adriani, M. (2010). Relationship between Religious Beliefs and Optimism and Spiritual Health of Ahvaz Azad University Students. New findings in psychology. Social Psychology, 4(10): 27 - 39. [in Persian].
  2. Bahrami, S. (2017). Evaluating use and attitude towards social Media Networking for University students. IIOABJ, 8(1): 1-5.
  3. Biggs, S. (۲۰۰۰). Global Village or Urban Jungle: Culture, Self-Construal, and the Internet. Proceedings of the Media Ecology Association, 1: 28-35.
  4. Bullen, P.; Harré, N. (۲۰۰۰). The Internet: It’s Effects on Fatety and Behaviour Implications for Adolescents, Department of Psychology. University of Auckland, and November
  5. Dadkhakh, B.; Mohammadi, MA.; Mozafari, N. (2006). Mental Health Status of Students of Ardabil University of Medical Sciences. Journal of Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, 6 (19): 36-31. [in Persian].
  6. Dibaj, P.; Bakhtiari, M. (2002). Mental Health Status of Students at Rehabilitation School, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, 1 (4):27-32. [in Persian].
  7. Ellison, C.W. (1983). Spiritual well-being: Conceptualization and measurement. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 114: 330- 340.
  8. Esmaeli, H.; Rahmani, S.; Kazemi, A., Alimohammadi, M. (2016). Evaluating the E-Learning Status of the Virtual Education Unit of Sistan & Baluchestan University. Public Management Research, 9(34): 221-241. [in Persian].
  9. Favaretto, G.; Morandin, I.; Gava, M.; Binotto, F. (2004). Internet and psychopathology: an analysis of the use of the Web by 1075 students at secondary school4. Epidemiol psichiatr Soc, 54(4): 134- 249.

10. Fenichel, M. (۲۰۰۳). Internet Addiction: Addictive Behavior, Transference or More?www.fenichel.com/addiction.shtml

11. Gabler, W.M. (2004). The Relationship of Prayer and Internal Religiosity to Mental and Spiritual Well-being. Master thesis, University of Wisconsin-Stout.

12. Goetz, T.; Cronjaeger, H.; Frenzel, A. C.; Ludthe, O.; Hall, N.C. (2010). Academic self-concept and emotion relations: domain specificity and age effects. Contemporary Educational Psychology,35: 44-58.

13. Golsefat, S.H. (2016). Effect of Virtual and Mobile Space on Students' Mental Health. In: The fourth national conference on mental health and counseling, Islamic Azad University of Quchan. [in Persian].

14. Greenfield, D. (2005). Internet Addiction and Its Outcomes. Rahavard Noor Quarterly Journal. 12: 48-51.

15. Hsieh, Y.P.; Shen, A.C.T.; Wei, HS; Feng, JY; Huang, SCY; Hwa, H L (2016). Associations between child maltreatment, PTSD, and internet addiction among Taiwanese students. Computers in Human Behavior. 56. P: 209- 214.

16. Hydari Sorshjani, S. (2012). The relationship between Internet addiction and mental health in the home users of Ahwaz. In: the first national congress of cybercrime and emerging social harm, Tehran, Ministry of Co-operation, Labor and Social Welfare. [in Persian].

17. Lim, Jin-Sook & et al. (2004). A Learning System for Internet Addiction Prevention. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT’04).

18. Mays, V.M.; Kilpatrick, R.; Cochran, S.D.; Calzo, J.P. (2004). The relationship of religion/spirituality to optimism, perceived health status and HIV progression in seropositive African American men who have sex with men. International Conference on AIDS. University of California, School of Public Health, Los Angeles, United States.

19. Moghimian, M.; Salmani, F.; Azar Barzin, M. (2011). Relationship between test anxiety and spiritual well-being in nursing students. Journal of Qom University of Medical Sciences, 5 (3): 31-36. [in Persian].

20. Mohseni, M. (2001). Sociology of the Information Society. Tehran: Didar. [in Persian].

21. Mozafarineia, F.; Shokori, F.; Hydarneia, A. (2014). The Relationship between Spiritual Health and Happiness of Students. Quarterly Journal of Health Education and Health Promotion,2 (2): 106-97. [in Persian].

22. Omidvari, A.A; Saremi, A.A. (2002). Internet addiction: description, etiology, prevention, treatment, and Internet addiction disorder, Psychological counseling and psychological services campus. Mashhad: Exercise publications. [in Persian].

  1. Pinnelli, S (۲۰۰۲). Internet Addiction Disorder and Identity on line: the Educational Relationship. Conference: 2002 Informing Science + IT Education Conference. DOI: 10.28945/2557.

24. Seth, A. (۲۰۰۳). The Internet: Addiction or Hobby? Active Karma Ventures Pvt. Ltd. Sexuality Education Resource center (2003), what is sexual dependence/ Addiction?

25. Yazdi-Feyzabadi, V., Seyfaddini, R., Ghandi, M., Mehrolhassani, M.H. (2018). The World Health Organization's Definition of Health: A Short Review of Critiques and Necessity of a Shifting Paradigm. Iranian Journal of Epidemiology( Special Issue: Foundations, Approaches and Performance of Iran's Health System),13(5):155-165. [in Persian].

26. Yen JY; Ko., CH; Yen, CF., et al. (2007). Psychiatic and internet addiction with internet addiction: comparition with substance use. PCN. 62: 9-16.

27. Young, K.S. (1999). Internet addiction Symptoms, evaluation and treatment. Innovations in Clinical Practice, 17:19-31.

28. Young, K.S.; Rogers, R.C. (1998). The relationship between depression and internet addiction. Cyber psycholBehav, 1: 25- 28.

29. Zarenejad, H.; Mosavi Nasab, M.H; Amiri, V. (2016). Investigating the relationship between Internet addiction and mental happiness and students' mental health. Conference on Psychology of Educational Sciences and Lifestyle with an International Approach.3 (2 &3): 7-13. [in Persian].

30. Zkaei, M. (2004). Youth and leisure. Youth Studies Quarterly, 6: 4-12. [in Persian].

 

 

 

 

 

Send comment about this article
CAPTCHA Image

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics