الفهرس 
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Abstract
The internet has become a very important tool in all areas of science, education, business, politics, and culture. Over the past 5 years, social media sites like Facebook have become a central, virtually unavoidable medium for social interaction. However, the increasing usage of computer technology and the internet is associated with mental and psychological problems, including internet addiction.
The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of internet addiction and its determining factors among secondary school students in Sohag Governorate (Upper Egypt).
This was a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study on 400 secondary school students in Sohag Governorate (mean age 15.9 years; 64.2% females). The self-administered questionnaire included sociodemographic data, risk factors, internet addictions, and psychological morbidity.
We evaluated internet addiction among students using the Arabic version of young internet addiction test (YIAT). Our study showed a high prevalence of internet addiction (59.75%) among secondary school students in Sohag.
Regarding sociodemographic factors, internet addiction tended to be higher among males (65%) than females (56.8%), among urban (67.3%) than rural (57%) residents, and among high-income families (67.7%), compared with medium (59.4%) and low (52.9%) income families, but the difference was not statistically significant. However, internet addiction was significantly more prevalent among second (65.6%) than first (53.2%) grade students.
Family characteristics could have important effects on internet addiction. Our study showed that maternal, but not paternal, education was significantly associated with internet addiction as the majority of students of mothers with university education (72.6%) were internet-addicted, compared with 44.8% of those of illiterate mothers. In contrast, the maternal and paternal job had no significant relation to students’ internet addiction.
The present study demonstrated significant associations between internet addiction and parent relation; all students with bad parent relations were internet addicts compared to 58.3% of those with good parent relations. Multiple logistic regressions showed that bad family relation is an independent risk factor of internet addiction (OR 17.5; 95%CI 2.2-142.9).
Several studies have demonstrated the effect of peer influence on behavioral problems. Indeed, our study showed a significant association between internet addiction and friend relation; 85.3% of secondary school students with bad friend relation were internet addicts compared with 58% of those with good friend relation.
The current study revealed no significant relationship between internet addiction and students’ habits, including physical exercises and reading.
Regarding internet access, our study found that internet addiction is significantly related to the presence of internet at home, presence of a computer at home, having internet outside the house, access internet on cell phone, having email address, and having account on social media. Having internet access on cell phones was identified as an independent significant risk factor of internet addiction among students (OR 2.2; 95%CI 1.17-4.14).
Considering the purpose of internet use, our study showed significant relation of internet addiction with using social net, entertainment, checking email, and news. In multivariate analysis, entertainment (OR 1.8; 95% CI 1.1-2.9%) and having Facebook account (OR 3.2; 95% CI 1.7-5.9) were identified as independent significant risk factors. There were no significant relations with internet uses for education, games, and shopping.
We evaluated psychological morbidity among students using the Arabic version of General health questionnaire -12 (GHQ-12). Our study identified a highly significant positive correlation (r 0.337) between internet addiction and psychological morbidity.
Conclusion
T
he present study showed a high prevalence of internet addiction among secondary school students in Sohag Governorate and a significant positive correlation between internet addiction and psychological morbidity. Bad family relations, secondary maternal education, having internet access at home, having internet access outside home, having internet access on cell phones, having Facebook account, and using internet for entertainment were independent predictors of internet addiction among secondary school students in Sohag.
RECOMMENDATIONS
• Increasing awareness in the community about the high prevalence of internet addiction among secondary school students and its risk factors, particularly bad family relations.
• Increasing awareness among secondary school students about the high prevalence of internet addiction, its risk factors, and associated psychological morbidity.
• Developing routine screening programs for internet addiction among secondary school students.
• Proper evaluation, management, and follow-up of psychological morbidity in secondary school students with internet addiction.
• Encouraging healthy lifestyle, outdoor activities, and face-to-face social activities among secondary school students.
• Conducting future studies on a wider scale, at repeated time-points, and using different data sources.