Happiness and Internet Addiction among High School Girls in Iran: A Single-Center Experience

Aida Rastegarian; Amir Bazrafshan; Pedram Keshavarz

doi:10.18502/ijps.v17i4.10687

Aida Rastegarian Student Research Committee, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
Amir Bazrafshan Substance Abuse Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
Pedram Keshavarz Department of Interventional Radiology, Medical Imaging Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/ijps.v17i4.10687

Keywords: Happiness; Internet Addiction Disorder; Students

Abstract

Objective: Happiness is an essential component in measuring quality of life. Today, rapid internet use proliferation has led to adverse effects on this behavior of individuals and family structures.

Method: The statistical population consisted of 500 high school girls aged between 15 and 18 studying in 10th, 11th, and 12th grades at Shiraz, Iran, from February 2018 to March 2019. The data were collected using the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ) and the Young’s Internet Addiction Test (IAT). The test and the questionnaire were translated into Persian. The validity and reliability were approved by earlier studies in Iran. Five hundred high school students participated in the study.

Results: The mean age of the participants was 16.7 ± 0.97 years, and their grade point average (GPA) was 18.41 ± 7.92. Among the 500 participants, 55% (275) of fathers and 65.8% (329) of mothers had parents with a diploma degree, and 162 (32.4%) were affected by Internet Addiction (IA). The univariate analysis showed that participants' education field, parents' educational status, each parent's vocational status, participants' GPA, and their duration of Internet usage correlated with the IA (P ≤ 0.2). Furthermore, multiple logistic analyses showed that mothers’ education (P < 0.055) and participants’ minutes of Internet usage (P < 0.001) correlated with IA.

Conclusion: There is a negative correlation between happiness score and internet addiction among high school female students in Shiraz, Iran.