Excessive Internet use and self-esteem among Internet users in Egypt.

AGE distribution; CONFIDENCE intervals; MARITAL status; QUESTIONNAIRES; RISK assessment; SELF-esteem testing; SELF-perception; STATISTICS; INTERNET addiction; LOGISTIC regression analysis; CROSS-sectional method; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; ODDS ratio

Several psychological comorbidities are thought to be associated with excessive Internet use. This study aimed to assess the relation between excessive Internet use and self-esteem among Internet users in Egypt. In this cross-sectional study, a Google form questionnaire, composed of three sections, was used to assess participants' sociodemographic characteristics and daily Internet use. Self-esteem was evaluated using the Arabic version of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Only people ≥18 years who reported having a stable Internet access and were residing in Egypt were included. Our results indicated that 25.3% of the 407 participants reported excessive Internet use (>4 h/day) and 29.5% had low self-esteem. Logistic regression showed that age ≤ 25 years and being unmarried were risk factors of excessive Internet use; (OR 2.85, 95% CI: 1.44-5.66; p value = 0.003) and (OR 2.64, 95% CI: 1.20-5.80; p value = 0.015), respectively. Low self-esteem associated with excessive Internet use by the univariate analysis (OR 1.68, 95% CI: 1.05-2.69; p value = 0.022), yet after adjustment for other covariates, the association attenuated (OR 1.44, 95% CI: 0.86-2.41; p value = 0.162). In participants ≤ 25 years, the association between self-esteem and excessive Internet use remained significant after adjustment for the covariates (Before: OR 2.04, 95% CI: 1.08-3.85; p value = 0.020 vs. After: OR 2.12, 95% CI: 1.11-4.08; p value = 0.015). In conclusion, excessive Internet use is a common finding among Internet users in Egypt. Young and unmarried people are more susceptible to use the Internet excessively. Low self-esteem in young people is associated with excessive Internet use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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