Effect of Internet Addiction on Mental Health of Adolescent Boys and Girls

ABSTRACT

Background: This study evaluates the relationship between Internet Addiction and mental health among adolescent student of three Army Public Schools located at Lucknow Cantt. Methodology: 513 participants (260 boys and 253 girls) in the study were 9th and 11th grade students in the age range of 14 to 18 years. Internet Addiction Test (IAT) developed by Kimberly Young (1996) was used to measure the addiction of Internet among adolescent and the Mental Health Inventory (MHI-38) designed by Davies, Sherbourne, Peterson and Ware (1998) was used to assess the multi-dimensional nature of psychological distress and psychological well-being, including Anxiety, Depression, Loss of Behavioural/Emotional Control, General Positive Affect, Emotional Ties and Life Satisfaction. t-test was carried out to determine the significance of difference between boys and girls on Internet addiction and six domains of mental health. Correlation analysis was carried out to identify the relationship between Internet Addiction and mental health separately for boys and girls. Results: The results have indicated that boys had significantly higher Internet Addiction as compared to girls. Boys had significantly higher levels of anxiety and loss of emotional/behavioural control whereas girls significantly outscored boys on the dimensions of depression, general positive affect, emotional ties and life satisfaction. Among boys Internet Addiction had a significant positive correlation with anxiety, depression and loss of behavioural/ emotional control whereas it had a significant negative effect on general positive affect, emotional ties and life satisfaction. Among girls Internet Addiction had a significant positive correlation with depression, loss of emotional/ behavioural control whereas it had a significant negative correlation with general positive affect, emotional ties and life satisfaction. Conclusion: Internet addiction has a significant impact on the mental health of adolescent boys and girls and further studies in this regard are warranted.