Background:

There has been an explosive growth in the use of internet not only in India but also worldwide. The new 2018 Global Digital Reports (GDR) reveals that there are now more than 4 billion people around the world using the internet, which is 7% more than the previous year. There have been growing concerns worldwide for what has been labeled as “internet addiction.” Effects of internet addiction on physical and mental health are well documented. Previously studies conducted in India and in other countries, helped to identify the presence of internet addiction among adolescents and associated it with personality, impulsivity, depression and anxiety. The role of psychosocial variables like family factors has not been studied in relation to internet addiction especially among population of young adult like college students. The present study is a preliminary attempt to fill this gap.

Objective: To examine the prevalence and psychosocial determinants of Internet Addiction among Post Graduate college students in Ranchi

Methods & material: It was a university based study. A total of 100 students were selected through simple random sampling. According to the type of data appropriate statistical analyses was done using SPSS version 25.0.

Results: In this study it was seen that 33% fulfilled the criteria of mild level, 52% fulfilled the criteria of moderate level and 15% fulfilled the criteria of severe level of internet addiction. The study also showed significant relationship between nuclear family type and internet addiction. Majority of respondents were hailing from nuclear family type (53) of internet addiction. The study also showed significant relationship between religion and internet addiction. Majority of respondents were Hindu (63) as compared to Muslim, Christian and others. No significant correlation was found between Revised University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness Scale, Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS), and Multi-dimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) with Internet Addiction Test (IAT).

Conclusion: The study concluded that prevalence rate of internet addiction among university students found to be fall under a universal range when compare to other studies. Compare to other studies the present study could not find significant relationship with psychosocial factors and internet addiction