Prevalence of Behavioral Addiction and Its Relation With Psychological Disturbance

NCT ID: NCT07174700

Last Updated: 2025-09-16

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
• Total Enrollment: 4600 participants
• Study Classification: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2025-07-29
• Study Completion Date: 2025-12-30

Brief Summary

Internet usage has increased greatly. It is expected to be more than 4 billion by the end of this year. About 80% of them spend most of their internet time on social media, and are expected by 2026 to be about 50% of the total population to use social media at least once a month. The internet is mainly used to connect with friends, relatives, learn new skills, or for entertainment, such as video gaming. However, with this increasing usage, internet addiction can easily increase.

Internet addiction or pathological internet use is defined as uncontrolled, excessive use of it, with uncontrolled time consuming that can cause distress and impairment. The prevalence of internet addiction varied between regions. A study in the seven countries in Europe reported a prevalence of addiction among adolescents to be 1%, and an additional 12.7% at risk of having addiction. In Turkey, a recent cross-sectional study found a prevalence of 18.3%. In the Middle East, the prevalence varied greatly from 0.9% to 33% among adolescents.

Additionally, internet video gaming is another addictive problem that can affect adolescents. A previous meta-analysis showed that gaming addiction prevalence ranged from 0.9% to 19.9%, with males being higher than females. Also, another study showed a prevalence of about 8.4% among Thailand medical students.

On the other hand, overuse of the internet can lead to an increase in problematic pornography use. Another study found a significant association between increased usage of the internet and pornography addiction (P value: <0.001). Additionally, previous studies showed a prevalence of porn addiction ranging from 3.2% to 16.6%. Also, a negative correlation between education level and porn addiction was observed.

All these behavioral addictions increase depression, anxiety, and stress for addicts. Several cross-sectional studies have assessed the positive correlation between either internet, gaming, or porn addiction, and an increase in anxiety and depression. However, to our knowledge, no single study has assessed these three addictive behaviors together with depression, anxiety, and stress in Arab countries.

Rational Medical students, in particular, use the internet frequently. Students use it in training, faculty assignments, research projects, and so on, which can make them depend greatly on the internet. This potentially can increase their addiction to the internet, subsequently increasing their addiction to video gaming and porn addiction. In the Middle East, few studies have tried to assess the prevalence of internet addiction and its association with increased depression, anxiety, and stress among medical students. Despite that, there is a lack of studies on gaming addiction and porn addiction.

The study aimed to assess the prevalence of internet addiction alongside video gaming and porn addiction among medical students and interns in the Middle East (MENA region). Also, the study aimed to assess the relationship of these three addictive behaviors with each other and their relationship with increased stress, anxiety, and depression among this population.

Conditions

Internet Addiction; Gaming Disorder; Porn Addiction

Study Design

• Observational Model Type: COHORT
• Study Time Perspective: CROSS_SECTIONAL

Interventions

Questionnaire

An online questionnaire will be used to assess the prevalence of internet addiction, gaming addiction, and porn addiction, and their relation with stress, anxiety and depression

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Arabic Medical students and interns
• Studying medicine in the Middle East countries
• Have access to online platforms
• Agree to participate in the study

Exclusion Criteria

• • Students or interns who refused to participate

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 27 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Zagazig University

OTHER_GOV

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Abdelmonam Mamdouh Abdelmonam Mohamed Ahmed Hagag

Dr

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

Zagazig University Faculty of Medicine and Affiliated Hospital

Zagazig, , Egypt

Countries

Egypt

Provided Documents

Document Type: Study Protocol

View Document

Other Identifiers

ZU-IRB # 1547/29-July-2025

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id