The Psychological Impact of Internet Addiction on Stress and Sleep Quality Among College Students at Sulaimani Polytechnic University: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Internet addiction has become a serious issue regarding mental health among college students and has an impact on sleep quality and psychological health as a result. The aim of the study is whether there is a relationship between Internet addiction, stress, and sleep quality among college students at Sulaimani Polytechnic University. To conduct this study, 479 students were randomly selected from the total of 3000 students. The participants completed three different questionnaires that were all previously validated: the Internet Addiction Test (IAT), the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI).

results showed that the level of Internet addiction was moderate to high (M = 58.47, SD = 6.478) and that perceived stress level was moderate (M = 17.82). Furthermore, 98.3% of the participants were determined to be poor sleepers, as indicated by an average PSQI score of 12.01, which is above the clinical cut-off score for sleep disturbance. A positive correlation was found between Internet addiction and perceived stress (r = 0.58, p = 0.021), Internet addiction and poor sleep quality (r = 0.77, p = 0.042), and perceived stress and poor sleep quality (r = 0.66, p = 0.001). Gender analysis was conducted, which showed that males had higher levels of Internet addiction than females and females had poorer sleep quality than males, yet no gender differences were found in perceived stress level.