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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Addictive Behaviors
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1398989

Internet addiction, social phobia, substance abuse and depression in the university setting: A Cross-sectional study in the Southern region of Morocco

Provisionally accepted
Fatima Zahra RAMDANI Fatima Zahra RAMDANI 1*Laila Lahlou Laila Lahlou 1Mohamed Merzouki Mohamed Merzouki 2Jalal Doufik Jalal Doufik 1Omar El Oumary Omar El Oumary 1Khadija Akebour Khadija Akebour 1Saliha Hamri Saliha Hamri 1Khalid Mouhadi Khalid Mouhadi 1Said Boujraf Said Boujraf 3*Hassan Rahioui Hassan Rahioui 4Ismail Rammouz Ismail Rammouz 1
  • 1 Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ibn Zohr University, Agadir, Morocco
  • 2 Université Sultan Moulay Slimane, Béni Mellal, Beni Mellal-Khenifra, Morocco
  • 3 Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Fes, Morocco
  • 4 Centre Hospitalier Sainte-Anne, Paris, France

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Aim: Internet addiction is a mental health issue that can have detrimental effects on an individual's life. This study aims to estimate the prevalence of Internet Addiction and identify the risk factors associated with this behavioral addiction.: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 6 universities in southern Morocco, involving 1690 students who completed a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire collected socio-demographic data, and information on substance use, and included validated tools to assess Internet addiction (Young's IADQ), depressive symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire. PHQ-9), and social phobia (Mini Neuropsychiatric International Interview. M.I.N.I).The findings of our study indicate that the prevalence of Internet addiction was 30.60% (95% CI), depressive symptoms were present in 44.10% of participants, and the prevalence of social Phobia was 30.20%. A significant correlation was identified between early initiation of tobacco and Internet addiction (p=0.05). The multivariate regression model revealed a possible association between cocaine use and Internet Addiction (OR=5.67, IC 95%: 0.45 to 10.80) (p=0.03), as well as a significant association between social phobia and a higher internet addiction score (OR= 3.45, IC 95%: 1.70 to5.02) (p<.001). However, depressive symptoms were not significantly associated with internet addiction (p=0.38).These results highlight the urgent need to address internet addiction in the coming years. Implementing Multidisciplinary prevention strategies, early diagnosis, and follow-up measures are essential to mitigate the physical, psychosocial, and academic impacts of this addiction on students.

    Keywords: Internet addiction, social phobia, substance abuse, Depression, Prevalence, Students

    Received: 11 Mar 2024; Accepted: 13 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 RAMDANI, Lahlou, Merzouki, Doufik, El Oumary, Akebour, Hamri, Mouhadi, Boujraf, Rahioui and Rammouz. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Fatima Zahra RAMDANI, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ibn Zohr University, Agadir, 80060, Morocco
    Said Boujraf, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Fes, Morocco

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.