Internet Addiction and Psychological Health of Students

The prime objective of the current research is to study the relationship between Internet addiction and psychological health of students. Selected by multi-step random sampling, samples of this research which is described as a correlative study, consist of 206 students (89 boys, 117 girls) studying at one of the universities in Babol. All subjects filled in questionnaires designed for Internet Addiction Test(Young, 1998), Self-esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965), Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985), and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) (Lavybvnd & Lavybvnd, 1995).Independent Samples T-test and Pearson Correlation Coefficient were used for data analysis. Results of the research showed that Internet addiction has negative correlation with positive aspects of psychological health (self-esteem and satisfaction with life), and positive correlation with negative aspects of psychological health (depression, anxiety and stress). In other words, increase in the level of Internet addiction makes a reduction in positive aspects of psychological health (self esteem and satisfaction with life) and gives rise to negative ones (depression, anxiety and stress). In addition, Independent Samples T-test revealed that there is no significant difference between the two sexes in terms of the level of their addiction to the Internet. At the end, implications of the current findings were discussed.