Epidemiology: Open Access
Open Access

Abstract

Statement of the Problem: Adolescents have become a major population of Internet users. While Internet use is rapidly spreading, internet addiction becomes a serious problem in adolescents who have not yet completed their physical and psychological development. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of internet addiction and related factors in adolescents. Methodology: The study is a cross-sectional study performed on high school students in Eskişehir (Turkey) in 2017. Ethical and administrative permissions were got for the study. In the study, multi-stage cluster sampling method was used according to settlement units and school types. In the sampling schools, a total of 3,468 students who agreed to participate in the study formed the study group. The Young Internet Addiction Scale was used to assess Internet addiction. Logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the independent variables associated with Internet addiction. Findings: Of the study group, 44.2% were male and the age of the study group ranged from 14 to 18 years and the mean (SD) was 15.89 (1.20) years. The frequency of internet addiction among students was found 13.7% (n = 474). In a multivariate analysis, the risk of Internet addiction was higher among women (OR: 1.293), not living in core families (1.364), connecting to the internet via computers (1.674), who reported that they could not limit themselves to using the Internet (5.071), who were 10 years old or younger at the age of first internet use (1.312) and who reached the internet within the first hour after waking up in the morning (3.124) (for each; p≤0.05). Conclusion & Significance: Internet addiction is an important health problem in adolescents. Internet addiction can be avoided by educating adolescents on the control of the internet and preventing children from using the internet in their at an early age by their parents. Recent Publications: 1. Bayraktar, F. 2001. 'İnternet kullanımının ergen gelişimindeki rolü (Yüksek lisans tezi, Ege Üniversitesi, Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, İzmir)', UlusalTezMerkezi/tezSorguSonucYeni. jsp adresinden edinilmiştir. 2. Ko, C-H, J-Y Yen, C-F Yen, C-S Chen, and C-C Chen. 2012. 'The association between Internet addiction and psychiatric disorder: a review of the literature', European Psychiatry, 27: 1-8. 3. Moreno, Megan A, Lauren A Jelenchick, and Dimitri A Christakis. 2013. 'Problematic internet use among older adolescents: A conceptual framework', Computers in Human Behavior, 29: 1879-87. 4. Tsai, Chin-Chung, and Sunny SJ Lin. 2003. 'Internet addiction of adolescents in Taiwan: An interview study', Cyberpsychology & behavior, 6: 649-52 5. Young, Kimberly S. 1998. 'Internet addiction: The emergence of a new clinical disorder', Cyberpsychology & behavior, 1: 237-44.

Biography

Ramazan Saglan has been graduated from Cumhuriyet University, Turkey as medical doctor in 2013. He is a research assistant at Public Health Department of Eskisehir Osmangazi University Faculty of Medicine since 2015. He is interested in Preventive medicine and community mental health subjects.

E-mail: rsaglan-64@hotmail.com