www.scholarsresearchlibrary.com t Available online a Scholars Research Library Der Pharmacia Lettre, 2016, 8 (19):210-214 (http://scholarsresearchlibrary.com/archive.html) ISSN 0975-5071 USA CODEN: DPLEB4 210 Scholar Research Library Comparison Internet Addiction among Students of Zahedan and Kerman Universities of Medical Sciences Zaynab Poodineh 1 , Farzaneh Barati 2 , Mahdieh Poodineh Moghadam* 3 , Nezar Ghanbarzehi 4 and Abbas Balouchi 5 1 Nursing Department, Nursing and Midwifery School, Zahedan University of Medical Science, Zahedan, Iran 2 Msc in Nursing Education, Department in Nursing, Neyshabur university of Medical Sciences, Iran 3 Lecturer, Department of Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Zabol University of Medical Sciences, Zabol, Iran 4 Msc of Nursing, Department of Nursing, Iranshahr University of Medical Sciences, Iranshahr, Iran 5 MSc student, Student Research Committee, Zabol University of Medical Science, Zabol, Iran _____________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT Internet addiction”, “differences caused by overuse of the Internet” or “irrational and pathological use of the Internet” all are phrases used to describe one of the modern diseases caused by the Internet. Present research aims to comparatively study the mean Internet addiction among students of Zahedan and Kerman universities of medical sciences in 2014. The present research was a cross-sectional, descriptive-analytic study. The statistical sample included 220 students of Zahedan and Kerman universities of medical sciences in 2013 who were selected using the stratified random sampling method. A three-part questionnaire (demographics, Young’s Internet Addiction Test, and Spiritual Health Questionnaire) was used for collecting the require data and information. The results of this study showed that the mean age of students was 2.08 ± 21.19, in an age range of 18-35. In addition, 51.4%, 48.6%, 11.4%, and 88.6% of students were female, male, married, and single, respectively. In terms of educational grade, 75% of them were bachelor’s and 25% were PhD students. Based on total scores of Internet Addiction Test, 55.9% of students participated in this study were ordinary users and 35.9%, 5.9%, and 2.3% of them, respectively, were mild, moderate, and severe addicted users. One of the most important measures for the proper management of the Internet use is to set a specific time for the Internet use. In addition, understanding the attitudes and thoughts of individuals who spend much time surfing the net and are affected with some sort of Internet addiction helps us to develop and implement more disciplined and organized deterrence programs for Internet addiction. Key words: Internet Addiction; Students; cross-sectional _____________________________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION “Internet addiction”, “differences caused by overuse of the Internet” or “irrational and pathological use of the Internet” all are phrases used to describe one of the modern diseases caused by the Internet. Ivan Goldberg, a psychiatrist of Columbia University, firstly introduced the term “Internet Addiction Disorder” in July 1995 [1]. To many people, the concept and definition of Internet addiction is somewhat exaggerated and they believe that addiction is only related to drugs and alcohol. Regardless of whether it is a disease, mental trauma or social harm, Internet addiction or behavioral dependence on the Internet is a chronic, pervasive, and recurrent phenomenon associated with serious physical, financial, family, social, and psychological damages. Yang (1999) points out that an Internet addict is one who spends at least 38 hours per week or 8 hours a day on using the Interne [2]. Specialists of pathology propose the most limited definition to classify the use of the Internet. It seems that the Internet gradually occupies a large part of the daily lives of people, especially young ones. Studies in the US indicate that the Internet use among young people is more than any other age group[3]. There are various statistics about the