The impact of internet addiction on the mental health of college students from the central area of Portugal

Introduction: Mental health has an imperative roll in general health, and it’s known that most mental and physical diseases are influenced by a combination of biological, psychological and social factors, in which takes place the Internet addiction. Objectives: identify the sociodemographic variables that influence the mental health of college students; identify academic variables that influence the mental health of college student. Methods: Quantitative, descriptive-analytical and cross-sectional study with 511 college students of the Central Region of Portugal. It was used a questionnaire on sociodemographic and academic context, and were used the following scales: Mental Health Scale – PhD José Luís Pais Ribeiro (2011); Internet Addiction Test, Portuguese version by Pontes e Patrão (2013). Results: Mostly female students, standing largely in the age group of 17-21 years, living in urban areas, with an average family income. Younger students have high addition to the internet (62.2%). Sex interfere with the mental health of students. The lower the negative impact of adding Internet emotions / feelings and lower its negative impact on daily life, the less anxiety, depression and loss of emotional / behavioral control of college students. The negative impact on daily life establishes a direct relationship with the positive affect, indicating that the greater the negative impact, less positive affect students. Conclusions: The results obtained point to the need to implement mental health programs, by conducting two workshops, promoting social interaction among students, to help them find more effective ways to respond to the daily challenges.