Abstract
The aim of this preliminary study was to explore the impact of Internet usage on individual functioning by exploring the relationship between Internet usage and depression amongst the students of University of Namibia. An exploratory study was conducted amongst 36 conveniently selected males and females’ students. This study investigated prevalence of internet addiction and its association with depression. In this study two tests were used, the Young Internet Addiction Test (YIAT) and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). The males scored an average of 36.6 on the YIAT whilst females scored an average of 33.9. On the PHQ-9, the males scored 14.7 and females scored 16 on average. The differences in hours spend per day for females were 4.5 h and males spend 6.4 on average. The result of this exploratory study reveals that there is a correlation between Internet addiction scores, depression scores and time spent online.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
American Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed). Arlington: American Psychiatric Publishing (2013).
Farhangpour, P., & Matendawafa, A.W.: The impact of social network sites on the social health of University of Venda students, South Africa. African Journal for Physical, Health Education, Recreation and Dance (AJPHERD), 412–425 (2014).
Laconi, S., Rodgers, R.F. & Chabrol, H.: The measurement of Internet addiction: A critical review of existing scales and their psychometric properties. Computers in Human Behavior, 41, 190–202 (2014).
Marcus, M., Yasamy, M.T., Ommerman, M., Chisholm, D., and Saxena, S.: Depression: A Global Public Health Concern. World Health Organisation (WHO): Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse (2012).
Moreno, M.A., Christakis, D.A., Egan, K.G., Jelenchick, L.A., Cox, E., Young, H., Villiard, H. & Becke, T.: A Pilot Evaluation of Associations Between Displayed Depression References on Facebook and Self-reported Depression Using a Clinical Scale. Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, 39(3), 295–304 (2011).
Nath, R., Chen, L., Muyingi, H.N., & Lubega, J.T.: Internet Addiction in Africa: A Study of Namibian and Ugandan College Students. International Journal of Computing and ICT Research, 7(2), 9–22 (2013).
Weiser, E.B.: The Functions of Internet Use and Their Social and Psychological Consequences. Cyberpsychology and Behaviour 4(6), 723–743 (2001).
Young, C., & L, Strelitz. Exploring patterns of Facebook usage, social capital, loneliness, and well-being among a diverse South African student sample. Communicare, 33(1), 57–72 (2014).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this paper
Cite this paper
Dhaka, P., Mwafufya, A., Mbandeka, H., de Kock, I., Janik, M., Jat, D.S. (2018). The Study of the Relationship Between Internet Addiction and Depression Amongst Students of University of Namibia. In: Mishra, D., Nayak, M., Joshi, A. (eds) Information and Communication Technology for Sustainable Development. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 10. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3920-1_53
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3920-1_53
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-3919-5
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-3920-1
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)