The Effect of Awareness of the Negative Effects of Internet Addiction on Reducing Addictive Behavior
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.56294/saludcyt2024.949Keywords:
Academic, Awareness, internet addiction, Students, Public healthAbstract
Introduction: Internet addiction is currently a recognized health as well as a social issue among adolescents. This study was therefore designed to assess the relationship between the awareness of the negative impacts of Internet addiction and how the awareness of the impacts influences addictive behaviors.
Methods: The sample comprised 765 students (375 males and 390 females) enrolled in 10 secondary schools in Babylon Governorate, Iraq using a simple random sample Data were obtained using a structured questionnaire, including three parts demographic details, an Internet addiction scale, and a developed questionnaire to measure how much the participants aware about Internet addiction.
Results: Out of 765 secondary school students, 51% were females and 49% were males. Among them, 9.9% were identified as having a high level of Internet addiction, with the majority being males (78.7%). Additionally, 59.9% had a fair level of academic awareness of the effects of internet addiction, with females showing higher awareness compared to males. The level of addiction is not affected by the degree of awareness regarding the negative impact of Internet addiction on their academic performance at a significant level of P-value >0·05.
Conclusion: Evidently, the findings of the study revealed that possessing the knowledge of the unfavorable consequences of Internet dependence is a crucial part of minimizing this problem but it is inadequate to eradicate it outright.
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