CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 91Impact of Technology on AdolescentsSexuality, Behavior, and TechnologyChild Development and Digital Technology

Prevalence of internet addiction among college students in the Indian setting: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Open access
Joseph, Jaison, Varghese, Abin, VR, Vijay, Dhandapani, Manju, Grover, Sandeep, Sharma, Suresh, Khakha, Deepika, Mann, Sucheta +1 more·2021·General Psychiatry
DOI 10.1136/gpsych-2021-100496PMC PMC8381302
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The internet is an integral part of everyone's life. College going adolescents are highly vulnerable to the misuse of the internet. AIMS: To estimate the pooled prevalence of internet addiction (IA) among college students in India. METHODS: Literature databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, EMBASE, PsycINFO and Google Scholar) were searched for studies assessing IA using the Young Internet Addiction Test (Y-IAT) among adolescents from India, published in the English language up to December 2020. We included studies from 2010 to 2020 as this is the marked era of momentum in wireless internet connectivity in India. The methodological quality of each study was scored, and data were extracted from the published reports. Pooled prevalence was estimated using the fixed-effects model. Publication bias was evaluated using Egger's test and visual inspection of the symmetry in funnel plots. RESULTS: Fifty studies conducted in 19 states of India estimated the prevalence of IA and the overall prevalence of IA as 19.9% (95% CI: 19.3% to 20.5%) and 40.7% (95% CI: 38.7% to 42.8%) based on the Y-IAT cut-off scores of 50 and 40, respectively. The estimated prevalence of severe IA was significantly higher in the Y-IAT cut-off points of 70 than 80 (12.7% (95% CI: 11.2% to 14.3%) vs 4.6% (95% CI: 4.1% to 5.2%)). The sampling method and quality of included studies had a significant effect on the estimation of prevalence in which studies using non-probability sampling and low risk of bias (total quality score ≥7) reported lower prevalence. The overall quality of evidence was rated as 'moderate' based on the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation criteria. CONCLUSIONS: Our nationally representative data suggest that about 20% to 40% of college students in India are at risk for IA. There is a need for further research in the reconsideration of Y-IAT cut-off points among Indian college students. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42020219511.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1136/gpsych-2021-100496

Cites

80 of 80 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • In India, 19.9% of college students that use social media have problematic social media.

    “In India, 19.9% of college students that use social media have problematic social media [43].”

    From Social Media Role and Its Impact on Public Health: A Narrative Review (2023) · cites this paper as [43]

    The Discussion (Main findings) reports a 19.9% prevalence among Indian college students, but the outcome is internet addiction, measured using a Y-IAT cut-off of 50. It does not report the prevalence of problematic social media use among students who use social media. (LLM, conf=0.90)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

2 of the 82 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 4

  1. [45]Niranjjan R. Prevalence of Internet addiction and effects of social media usage among a private medical college students, Pondicherry. Int J Curr Adv Res 2017; 6: 6486– 90. 10.24327/ijcar.2017 · DOI
  2. [62]Mukherjee S, Banerjee J, Ghosal A. Does Internet addiction cause insomnia and low self-esteem among medical students? A questionnaire-based study. Int J Sci Res 2020; 9: 49– 52.
  3. [76]Fernández-Villa T, Alguacil Ojeda J, Almaraz Gómez A, Ojeda JA, Gómez AA, et al. Problematic Internet use in university students: associated factors and differences of gender. Adicciones 2015; 27: 265– 75. 26706809
  4. [77]Xue-song WU, Zhao-peng D, ZHU K. Analysis of Internet addiction status and influencing factors of college students. J Taishan Med Coll 2017; 38: 263– 5.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Joseph, J., Varghese, A., VR, V., Dhandapani, M., Grover, S., Sharma, S., Khakha, D., Mann, S., & Varkey, B. P.
Affiliations
  • Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma University of Health Sciences (IN)
  • Bhopal Memorial Hospital & Research Centre (IN)
  • All India Institute of Medical Sciences Bhubaneswar (IN)
  • Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (IN)
  • All India Institute of Medical Sciences Jodhpur (IN)
  • All India Institute of Medical Sciences (IN)
  • Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (IN)
Corresponding author
Joseph, Jaison
ORCID
Venue
General Psychiatry
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2021-08
Volume
34
Issue
4
Pages
e100496-e100496
ISSN
  • 2096-5923 (ISSN-L)
  • 2517-729X
DOI
10.1136/gpsych-2021-100496
PMC
PMC8381302
OpenAlex
W3193844291
Cited by
91
References
82
Citations by year
2026: 15 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 2
FWCI
3.02
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • General Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology
  • Social Sciences › Education › Child Development and Digital Technology
Keywords
internet addiction, prevalence, university students, Young Internet Addiction Test, adolescents, India, risk factors

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review