The Association of Internet Addiction with Burnout, Depression, Insomnia, and Quality of Life among Hungarian High School Teachers

Marietta Pohl, Gergely Feher, Krisztián Kapus, Andrea Feher, Gabor Daniel Nagy, Julianna Kiss, Éva Fejes, Lilla Horvath and Antal Tibold
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Marietta Pohl: Centre for Occupational Medicine, Medical School, University of Pécs, 7624 Pécs, Hungary
Gergely Feher: Centre for Occupational Medicine, Medical School, University of Pécs, 7624 Pécs, Hungary
Krisztián Kapus: Centre for Occupational Medicine, Medical School, University of Pécs, 7624 Pécs, Hungary
Andrea Feher: Szent Rafael Hospital, 8900 Zalaegerszeg, Hungary
Gabor Daniel Nagy: Department Of Social Studies, University of Szeged, 6722 Szeged, Hungary
Julianna Kiss: Centre for Occupational Medicine, Medical School, University of Pécs, 7624 Pécs, Hungary
Éva Fejes: Hospital of Komló, 7300 Komló, Hungary
Lilla Horvath: Centre for Occupational Medicine, Medical School, University of Pécs, 7624 Pécs, Hungary
Antal Tibold: Centre for Occupational Medicine, Medical School, University of Pécs, 7624 Pécs, Hungary

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 19, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: The extensive availability of Internet has led to the recognition of problematic Internet use (so called Internet addiction, IA) mostly involving adolescents. There are limited data about the prevalence and consequences of IA in adults especially among high school teachers. Here, we present a cross-sectional prospective study focusing on the association of Internet addiction with burnout, depression, insomnia, and lower quality of life among high school teachers taking many co-variates into account. Overall, 623 males (34.3%) and 1194 females (65.7%) participated in our study. Internet addiction was detected in 5.2% (95/1817) based on the Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire. Internet addiction was associated with severe burnout (10.5 vs. 2.7%, p < 0.001), moderate (36.8 vs. 1.7%, p < 0.001), and severe (6.3 vs. 0.1%, p < 0.001) depression, insomnia (23.1 vs. 11.4%, p < 0.001), and severe sleep disturbance (severe insomnia, 27.4 vs. 3.8%, p < 0.001) and lower quality of life in all domains ( p < 0.001). There was also a significant correlation of the severity of the above-mentioned parameters and the severity of IA (overall scores, p < 0.001 in all cases). In a multivariate analysis including demographic criteria, risk factors medical conditions and the above-mentioned parameters as co-variates internet addiction was significantly associated with depression (OR = 3.836, CI: 2.92–5.44, p = 0.03), and insomnia (OR: 3.932, CI: 3.6–5.69, p = 0.002). This is the first study from Hungary and is one of the first studies showing the association of IA with mental issues, burnout, and lower quality of life among adults. It underlines the clinical importance of problematic Internet use among adults.

Keywords: internet addiction; burnout; depression; insomnia; quality of life; adult; teacher; cross-sectional study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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