Investigation of the Association Between Loneliness, Social Skill Levels and Internet Addiction in Junior High School Students’

Abstract

Aim: This study was conducted to investigate the association between internet addiction(IA), and social skills and loneliness levels in junior high school students and to determine the factors affecting their IA levels. Method: The population of the study consisted of students attending junior high schools in Kirklareli, in the 2017-2018 academic year(N=10,682).After minimum sample size was calculated as 668, 693 students were reached. In the study, the Internet Addiction Scale(IAS), Matson Evaluation and Social Skills with Youngsters(MESSY) and Children's Loneliness Scale(CLS) were used to collect the study data. Results: Of the students, 13.5% were moderate, 1.5% were severe internet addicts. The results of the adjusted Multivariate Linear Regression analysis indicated that while there was a positive association between IAS scores and the scores for the NegativeMESSY(β:0.345, 95%CI:0.252;0.439,p<0.001) and CLS(β:0.169, 95%CI:0.050;0.288,p<0.01), there was no association between the IAS scores and PositiveMESSY scores(p>0.05).The risk of IA was high in the male gender, >12 years of age, those who perceive their academic success poorly, whose monthly household income was >3000₺/500$ and those who do not have parental control in internet use(p<0.05). Conclusion: The students' IA levels are affected by their socio-demographic and internet usage characteristics. Their levels of negative social skills and loneliness increase as their IA level increase.

The effects of sports participation on internet addiction of high school students

“…İnternete telefonla bağlanmanın sağladığı kolaylıklar neticesinde internet bağımlılığına olan eğilimi arttırması (Derin, 2013) ve kendine ait cep telefonu bulunan ve cep telefonunda internet bağlantısı olan ortaokul öğrencilerin internet bağımlılık puanlarının daha yüksek bulunması (Kısa, 2018) cep telefonunun internet bağlılığı oluşmasında etkili olabileceğini düşündürmektedir.…”

“…Ortaokul ve lise öğrencilerinde (ergenlerde) internet bağımlılığı ve akademik başarı arasındaki ilişkinin değerlendirildiği bazı çalışmalarda, düşük eğitim seviyesi ile düşük akademik başarının yüksek internet bağımlığına (Esen ve Siyez, 2011;Yıldız, ve diğ., 2018), aşırı eğlence amaçlı internet kullanımının akademik başarısızlığa (Kısa, 2018) ve okul başarısının internet bağımlılığında azalmaya (Akgül, 2016) ve neden olduğu sonucuna varılmıştır.…”

Examination of gifted students’ Internet / game addiction and school social behaviors

“…Several scholars have also observed that students' social skill scores do not differ according to the grade level. These findings can be explained by the fact that the participant students' ages did not vary significantly (Ayhan Bostancı, 2020;Kısa, 2018).…”

“…Based on these findings of the study, it can be concluded that as the internet and game addiction scores of gifted children increase, their interpersonal skills, self-management, academic skills and social competencies, which are important components of school social competence, weaken. Previous studies have also found a negative relationship between computer addiction and social skills (Ayhan Bostancı, 2020;Caplan, 2005;Çeliker, 2020;Kısa, 2018), which can be caused by the fact that children who already have problems with their social skills tend to use the internet and play games more. Gifted children not only think differently but also feel different (Silverman, 1993).…”

“…This situation reveals that students in the age group 10 and above are more addicted to the internet and games compared to other age groups. There are many studies indicating that internet and game addiction in children increases with age (Kısa, 2018;Usta, 2016;Yavuz, 2018). One reason for this situation can be that families intervene and restrict children from using the internet and computers at an early age while children enjoy more freedom and act more independently as they grow older.…”