Научная статья на тему 'Internet-addiction of the medical university students as a health and academic performance hazard'

Internet-addiction of the medical university students as a health and academic performance hazard Текст научной статьи по специальности «Науки о здоровье»

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интернет-зависимость / успеваемость / студенты / здоровый образ жизни. / Internet addiction / medical students / academic performance / healthy lifestyle.

Аннотация научной статьи по наукам о здоровье, автор научной работы — Tetiana Bilous, Mariana Dikal, Olena Korotun, Tetiana Shchudrova, Tamara Kopchuk

Целью данной работы было исследовать и проанализировать актуальный уровень интернет-зависимости у студентов медицинского университета для изучения процесса её формирования и симптомов, и дальнейшего влияния на академическую успеваемость и здоровье. В результате было обнаружено, что большинство опрошенных студентов проводят в сети интернет от 3-х до 7-ми часов в день, что соответствует средней степени интернет-зависимости. Причем большинство респондентов отмечает постепенное увеличение времени, затраченного в сети, с неудачными попытками его сократить. Студенты с сильной интернет-зависимостью склонны к формированию социальной дезадаптации, депрессивных состояний, нарушений дисциплины, что может крайне негативно отражаться на их учебе.

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ИНТЕРНЕТ-ЗАВИСИМОСТЬ СТУДЕНТОВ МЕДИЦИНСКОГО УНИВЕРСИТЕТА КАК ФАКТОР РИСКА АКАДЕМИЧЕСКОЙ УСПЕВАЕМОСТИ

Aim of the study was to investigate the actual level of the Internet-addiction among the students of the medical university, to study the process of formation and symptoms of online dependence and their subsequent impact on health and academic performance. It was found that the majority of interviewed students spend on the Internet from 3 to 7 hours a day, which corresponds to the average level of Internet addiction. Most of students gradually increase their time spent on the network, with unsuccessful attempts to reduce it. Students with strong Internet dependency are prone to the formation of social maladaptation, depression, violations of discipline, which affect negatively their learning.

Текст научной работы на тему «Internet-addiction of the medical university students as a health and academic performance hazard»

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PEDAGOGICAL SCIENCES

УДК: 004.738.5: 159.9

Tetiana Bilous, Mariana Dikal, Olena Korotun, Tetiana Shchudrova, Tamara Kopchuk, Higher State Educational Establishment of Ukraine "Bukovinian State Medical University" DOI: 10.24411/2520-6990-2020-11453 INTERNET-ADDICTION OF THE MEDICAL UNIVERSITY STUDENTS AS A HEALTH AND

ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE HAZARD

Татьяна Билоус, Марьяна Дикал, Елена Коротун, Татьяна Щудрова, Тамара Копчук

Высшее государственное учебное заведение Украины «Буковинский государственный медицинский университет»

ИНТЕРНЕТ-ЗАВИСИМОСТЬ СТУДЕНТОВ МЕДИЦИНСКОГО УНИВЕРСИТЕТА КАК ФАКТОР РИСКА АКАДЕМИЧЕСКОЙ УСПЕВАЕМОСТИ

Аннотация.

Целью данной работы было исследовать и проанализировать актуальный уровень интернет-зависимости у студентов медицинского университета для изучения процесса её формирования и симптомов, и дальнейшего влияния на академическую успеваемость и здоровье.

В результате было обнаружено, что большинство опрошенных студентов проводят в сети интернет от 3-х до 7-ми часов в день, что соответствует средней степени интернет-зависимости. Причем большинство респондентов отмечает постепенное увеличение времени, затраченного в сети, с неудачными попытками его сократить. Студенты с сильной интернет-зависимостью склонны к формированию социальной дезадаптации, депрессивных состояний, нарушений дисциплины, что может крайне негативно отражаться на их учебе.

Abstract.

Aim of the study was to investigate the actual level of the Internet-addiction among the students of the medical university, to study the process offormation and symptoms of online dependence and their subsequent impact on health and academic performance.

It was found that the majority of interviewed students spend on the Internet from 3 to 7 hours a day, which corresponds to the average level ofInternet addiction. Most of students gradually increase their time spent on the network, with unsuccessful attempts to reduce it. Students with strong Internet dependency are prone to the formation of social maladaptation, depression, violations of discipline, which affect negatively their learning.

Ключевые слова: интернет-зависимость, успеваемость, студенты, здоровый образ жизни.

Keywords: Internet addiction, medical students, academic performance, healthy lifestyle.

Today, the Internet has become an integral part of many people's lives. This is especially true for medical students because they are required to use the Internet on a mandatory basis during their studies. On the one hand, using the Internet greatly simplifies the learning process and, on the other, serves as a means of communication. At the same time, the fact that the Internet sometimes becomes the only way of leisure for students (which negatively affects the student's academic performance and the effectiveness of learning in general) is of concern, which does not contribute to the socialization of the individual [3]. Excessive Internet access can be a prerequisite for Internet addiction. The virtual internet information network offers great opportunities for human activity and expression, which cannot be realized in reality. But in

a certain category of Internet users, the time spent online dominates everything else, which subsequently progresses in their inability to control their activity in the virtual space progressively, personal and social problems arise, communication and educational difficulties, social problems and maladaptation arise. This kind of psychological dependence on the virtual environment, called - Internet addiction (Internet Addiction Disorder). For the first time, this term was proposed by I. Goldberg, to describe the disorder of behavior as a result of using the Internet, which has a detrimental effect on the daily, educational, social, professional, family, financial and psychological spheres of human activity. Nowadays, internet addiction is defined as an obsessive desire to go online while offline, and an inability to go offline while online

[1, 7, 9].

Researchers have identified a number of negative personal transformations inherent in people who overuse the Internet: deformation of the personal structure, the development of destructive behaviors, reducing intellectual ability to solve current problems, reducing the flexibility of cognitive processes, the formation of dependent behavior, potency of con-vultions and cramps development in susceptible persons [2, 10].

Therefore, a detailed analysis of this problem, the identification of psychological factors that contribute to the formation of Internet addiction among medical students and their subsequent correction, is relevant and necessary. After all, it is quite clear that the Internet, as a means of communication, is merely a compensatory mechanism that replaces real human relationships.

Aim of the reserche was to study Internet addiction among students of a medical university to identify the formation and symptoms of Internet addiction and their further effects on health and academic performance.

Material and methods. To achieve the goals, a survey was conducted of 79 2nd year students of the specialty "Medicine" of the Higher State Educational Institution of Ukraine "Bukovinian State Medical University". The survey was based on a technique developed in 1994 by Kimberly Young, a psychology professor at the University of Pittsburgh (Bradford), on Internet addiction test ("Internet Addiction Test") trnslated and adapted by authors. The final test consists of 40 questions, the answers to each of which are evaluated on a 5-point scale: never or very rarely - 1 point, sometimes 2 points, regularly 3 points, often 4 points, constantly 5 points. Scoring: 20-49 points - an ordinary Internet user, 50-79 points - there are some problems associated with excessive Internet enthusiasm, 80-100 points - Internet addiction. The results of the study were analyzed using Statistica 7.0 StatSoft Inc. using parametric and nonparametric calculation methods.

Research results and discussion. On first step of the study, the daily time spent in the Internet by students was assessed. It was found that 27 respondents from the cohort (I group of the comparison - weak Internet dependence) spend on the Internet from 1 to 3 hours daily (1.9 hours on average per day), 45 people (comparison group II, average degree of dependence) -from 3 to 7 hours (4.9 hours on average per day), and 7 respondents more than 8 hours (10.1 hours on average per day, they formed group III, strong Internet addiction). It was revealed that in students of group I the average Internet Addiction Test score reached 51.7 ± 3.02 points, in group II - 77.2 ± 2.28 points and among respondents in group III - 96.0 ± 10.85 points ( p < 0.05 with I, II: III). Peculiarities of the course of Internet addiction in comparison groups, according to the questions which differ most significantly are presented in the table.

Thus, it has been revealed that it is in the most active users of the Internet network the social maladjustment develops, as evidenced by the restrictions on the time of live communication with

friends or family or the neglect of meals. Students with a strong Internet addiction develop a depressive state, when the meaning of life is lost without using the network, and for the opportunity to be online, such students began to play down the time in answers to others and did not even record its duration.

A considerable number of scientists have been studying the dangers of excessive use of the Internet, psychological features of Internet addiction and psychological causes of its occurrence [4, 5]. These studies have identified the main factors behind the formation of Internet addiction:

• psychological (limitless ability to create new images of one's self and verbalization of ideas and fantasies, lack of recognition and attention, escape from the problems of reality, simplicity of self-realization in creativity and self-expression, violation of psychophysiological state, individual passive life position, low level of communicative abilities, social phobia, possible threat of mental disorders and suicidal behavior);

• socio-psychological (powerful extension of the boundaries of communication of personality; ease of finding like-minded and emotionally close people; meeting the need for belonging to a social group and recognition; the possibility of escaping from real life and its problems);

• social (the existence of a modern person in an information-saturated environment: aggressive presentation of information in the media, the emergence of new means of influencing consciousness, ignorance of the population about the possibility and negative consequences of addiction, the weakening of the most important socio-cultural institutions), the absence of really effective social programs of psychohygiene and psychoprophylaxis.

Depending on the functionality of the Internet and the means of its use, there are the following criteria for Internet addiction: obsessive search - aimed at pointless search for new information, without the desire to get results; compensatory - aimed at compensating the need for communication; emotionally dependent -focused on being on the Internet to maintain the desired level of mental activity and regulate the emotional state; communicative - aimed at diversifying communication as a necessary condition for accelerating real communication; cybersexual - is caused by the search for sexual information on the Internet.

Psychological prerequisites for Internet addictive behavior include a wide range of phenomena that require timely detection and diagnosis, as well as differentiated and adequate application of measures of study and development of preventive-psychological methods of correction [13, 14]. It should not be forgotten that neither social nor psychological factors in the process of the formation of Internet addiction act in isolation. A high level of Internet addiction correlates with such individual and psychological features as low self-esteem; subjective sense of loneliness; presence of a symptom complex of alexithymia, a depressive state; tendency to abuse of psychoactive substances; decrease in organizational

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and communication skills; severity of character accentuations, as well as the emergence of social maladaptation [6, 12].

Micro-social factors of a high level of Internet addiction are associated with disorders of interpersonal interaction with parents, teachers, classmates. The stimuli that provoke immersion in the world of virtual events are the inability to meet the basic needs of a young person in recognition, respect, love from the immediate environment; prohibition of the desired, obstacles to achieving the goal; offenses, deception; inability or unwillingness to be responsible for their words, actions, activities in real life.

As a rule, Internet-dependent students have no inner harmony, and social and economic factors are usually the cause [8]. Students' communication is of crucial importance in this process as one of the important types of leading activities for this age. Since it is a crucial dominant resource in conflict resolution, although it is a kind of illusion in solving internal problems. As this is a temporary relief of the psychological personality (feelings of self-affirmation, self-realization, high self-esteem), however, it later deepens the internal mental crisis of the person, contributing to psychosomatic disorders of health. This leads to inefficient use of time at the computer or gadget, lack of clear discipline, planning of their

educational and professional activities, its results and consequences [11]. One of the basic needs for rest and sleep is ignored, which leads to a decrease in learning performance, to absent-mindedness, irritability, anxiety, neuroses of student youth. At the same time, constant lack of sleep, finding the student's body in a state of constant stress, can provoke the development of diseases by the cardiovascular system or gastrointestinal tract, etc., is a consequence of numerous internal conflicts. And with time, the student's circle closes, forcing him to move along the same inefficient trajectory.

Conclusions:

1. The majority of medical university students surveyed showed an average degree of Internet addiction (4.9 hours per day spent online).

2. Students with an average degree of Internet addiction are gradually increasing the time spent on the network, with unsuccessful attempts to reduce it.

3. Students with strong Internet addiction are prone to the formation of social maladjustment, depressive states, and discipline violations, which can have an extremely negative effect on their studies.

Prospects for further research: are to identify the characteristics of Internet addiction among students in different courses of study and other specialties.

Table 1

Features of manifestations of Internet addiction in students according to specific questions of the

Questionnaire Statements. I group II group III group P

How often do you block out disturbing thoughts about your life with soothing thoughts of the Internet? 1,29 1,64 2,29 <0,05 1:111

How often do you find yourself anticipating when you will go online again? 1,57 1,95 2,71 <0,05 1:111

How often do you fear that life without the Internet would be boring, empty, and joyless? 1,64 2,03 2,71 <0,05 1:111

How often do you lose sleep due to being online? 1,86 2,09 2,86 <0,05 1:111

How often do you try to cut down the amount of time you spend online and fail? 1,71 2,00 3,00 <0,05 I, II:IH

How often do you feel depressed, moody, or nervous when you are off-line, which goes away once you are back online? 1,21 1,34 2,57 <0,05 LIII

How often do others in your life complain to you about the amount of time you spend online? 1,50 2,29 2,86 <0,05 I:II, III

How often do you try to hide how long you've been online? 1,21 1,59 2,14 <0,05 I:II

How often do you find that you stay online longer than you intended? 1,50 1,86 2,43 <0,05 I:II

How often do you neglect your meals to spend more time online? 1,21 1,72 2,71 <0,05 I:II, III

Note: I - I group of the comparison - weak Internet dependence; II - comparison group II with average degree of dependence; III - group III, strong Internet addiction.

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