Internet Use and Psychosomatic Symptoms among University Students: Cross-Sectional Study

Gregor Stiglic, Ruth Masterson Creber and Leona Cilar Budler
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Gregor Stiglic: Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Maribor, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia
Ruth Masterson Creber: Department of Population Health Sciences, Division of Health Informatics, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY 10065, USA
Leona Cilar Budler: Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Maribor, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 3, 1-9

Abstract: Background: Although the internet facilitates access to a wide range of knowledge and evidence, overuse among young people is associated with lower wellbeing and psychosomatic symptoms. The aim of this cross-sectional study is to explore the relationship between internet use, mental wellbeing, and psychosomatic symptoms among university students in Slovenia. Methods: We used correlation matrix plots to identify correlated symptoms and multivariate logistic regression to analyze the relationship between the time spent on the internet or computer and psychosomatic symptoms controlling for gender. Symptoms were measured using the Health Behavior of School Children scale. Results: Out of 464 students, the majority (64.7%, n = 300) were healthcare students and 35.3% ( n = 164) were computer science students. Among somatic symptoms, headaches were associated with more time spent on the computer (r = −0.17, p < 0.001) and were significantly more prevalent in computer science students compared to health science students (χ2(1) = 8.52, p = 0.004). Time spent using the internet for spare time activities was associated with lower nervousness (r = 0.15, p = 0.005). Conclusions: Computer science students reported more frequent psychological symptoms compared to health science students and less somatic symptoms.

Keywords: psychological symptoms; somatic symptoms; technology use; wellbeing; university students (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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