Objective: To study factors responsible for internet addiction among adolescents of central India.

Design: Cross-sectional study

Setting: Six higher secondary schools in Rewa, Madhya Pradesh.

Participants: Initially 551 school students from class 11th and 12^th were included in the study out of which 24 were not internet users, and 25 submitted incomplete forms. Thus, a total of 502 students were included in the study finally.

Main Outcome Measure(s): Internet addiction test score (IAT Score) of individual participants was calculated using Young’s Internet addiction scale..

Results: Out of 502 students, 32.9% of students were having mild internet addiction, 16.3% moderate and 0.4% severe internet addiction. Significant correlation was observed between level of internet addiction (IAT score) and male gender, medium of education, device used to access internet, purpose of usage and time of internet use. The major single cause of internet addiction observed was social networking.

Conclusions: Easy availability of mobile phones, increasing popularity of social media and uncontrolled internet use during night hours are the major factors leading to internet addiction as observed in our study.

Keywords: Cyber addiction, compulsive internet use, IAT Score, pathological internet use, Social Networking.

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Dr Atul Goswami

Room no 7, P.G. Mens hostel, S.S. Medical College, Rewa, Pin – 486001

Phone: 8889915653, Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.