Determining the relationship between loneliness and internet addiction among adolescents during the covid-19 pandemic in Turkey.
Arzu Sarıalioğlu, Tutku Atay, Duygu Arıkan
PMID 34801327WHAT IT FOUND
Adolescents in Turkey who felt lonelier also reported more internet addiction, but the link was low.
When social contact is limited, ask about both, yet this study cannot show cause.
Key findings
01Loneliness and internet addiction were positively associated in a low-level, statistically significant relationship.
02Mean loneliness score was 14.38 ± 4.42 on the 7-item UCLA Loneliness Scale, and mean internet addiction score was 22.21 ± 8.14 on the 9-item Internet Addiction Scale for Adolescents.
03In regression analysis, higher loneliness score was associated with higher internet addiction score (β = 0.301), and the model explained 17.2% of the change in internet addiction score.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study is descriptive-correlational, so it cannot show whether loneliness leads to internet addiction, internet addiction leads to loneliness, or both are driven by other factors. Participants were adolescents in Erzurum, Turkey who had internet access and used WhatsApp, so results may not apply to adolescents without internet access or in other settings. Recruitment used WhatsApp groups and snowball sharing, which can over-represent connected peers and may not be a representative sample. Data were self-reported by adolescents in one questionnaire during April and May 2021, so results may reflect the pandemic moment rather than stable patterns. The regression model explained 17.2% of the change in internet addiction score, so many possible factors were not accounted for.
Declared interests
The authors reported no financial support for the research, authorship, or publication, and declared no potential conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that loneliness causes internet addiction or that reducing loneliness will reduce internet addiction. The study was cross-sectional and the association was low (r = 0.212).