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Excessive practice of using internet may result to behavioral addiction that is associated with detrimental physical, emotional and psychological health in university students by using between-groups correlational research design. The present research explored differences in university students with and without internet addiction regarding disturbed emotion regulation, poor sleep quality and general health issues. Further, the research explored internet addiction as a predictor of disturbed emotion regulation, poor sleep quality and general health issues in university students identified with internet addiction. The sample contained 600 students (375 with & 225 without internet addiction) from different public universities of Lahore. Findings revealed higher mean scores for the students with internet addiction on disturbed emotion regulation, poor sleep quality and general health issues (p < 0.01). Besides internet addiction, gender and nuclear family system emerged as significant predictors of disturbed emotion regulation, poor sleep quality and general health issues (p < 0.01) in university students. Research implications suggest that young adults from universities should be given counselling for appropriate usage of internet rather develop internet addiction so that they can be able to utilize internet rather than deteriorating their health and time. Keywords: internet addiction; sleep quality; emotion regulation; general health
Use of internet has become the foremost source of communication, education and entertainment in the present time as internet technologies facilitate individuals to organize routine life functions expeditiously. University students use internet considerable amount of time as universities provide mostly free and unlimited internet to students for educational purposes. But it is found that besides educational purposes, university students also use internet technology to explore inappropriate content or other irrelevant activities using social media, Instagram, playing internet games, chatting etc. (Capetillo & Juarez, 2015). Overuse of internet is reported to be associated with internet addiction (§enormanci, Sarach, Atasoy, §enormanci, Koktiirk & Atik, 2014). University students are especially vulnerable to internet addiction as they have easy accessibility in comparison with the other populations. What causes internet addiction in university students can be explained by Kandell (1998) i.e., students find twenty-four hours free access to internet in campus premises. Newly admitted students may find it challenging to adapt to be responsible for independent tasks management, choosing new friends etc. So, possibly, the new students find internet as a...