Social Phobia Among College-Going Students Following the Covid-19 Outbreak: Links with Internet Addiction
Keywords:
Social Phobia, Internet Addiction, Social Anxiety, Problematic Internet Use, Internet DependencyAbstract
Previous research has revealed a relationship between social phobia and internet addiction, and both variables have become more prevalent in recent years. In a briskly developing country like India, internet dependency has the potential to become a severe public health issue shortly. Aims and Objectives: This study aims to assess the frequency of social phobia and internet addiction among college students after the Covid-19 pandemic, analyze the relationship between the two, and explore if gender impacts these two factors. Participants: The participants comprised 200 students (114 females, 86 males) with a mean age of 22.5 years from various colleges in Haryana, India. Measures: The Internet Addiction Test (Young, 1998) was used to measure the severity of internet addiction, while the Social Phobia Inventory (Connor et al., 2000) was used to assess the degree of social phobia. Data Analyses: Pearson's Product Moment was used to assess the correlation, and the T-test was applied to analyze the gender differences in this study. Results: Gender has no bearing on the level of social phobia or internet addiction, according to the findings. Social phobia and internet addiction affect 42.5 percent and 56 percent of college students, respectively. Furthermore, males and females have a significant positive relationship (p < .01) between social phobia and internet addiction, with males having a more robust link.
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