International Journal of Nursing Education and Research

This descriptive study aims to determine the factors related to internet use among adolescents and their psychosocial adjustment levels

This study included 250 students studying at a public high school. Data collection tools included sociodemographic information form, internet use information form, Problematic Internet Usage Scale (PIUS-A), and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)

In this study, the averages of PIUS-A and SDQ are found as 68.9 ± 21.9 and 48.2 ± 5.1 respectively. The results of the study indicated that there were statistically significant differences between PIU levels and gender, the monthly income of the family, satisfaction from family-friend relationship, experiencing school-related problems, the place of connecting to the internet, the skill level of internet use, families ’banning children from connecting to internet, going to internet cafes when it is not allowed by the family, and having physical pain while using the internet

In this study, psychosocial health levels of adolescents were evaluated using SDQ in a different way than other studies. Acoording to multiple linear regression analyzes, effects of sociodemographic variables in Model 1, variables related to internet use in Model 2 and SDQ variable in Model 3 were evaluated. The problematic internet use is explained by Model 1 at 20%, Model 2 at 43%; but it was identified that SDQ variable in Model 3 does not have a predictors effect. The findings suggest that use of the Healthy Internet Use Program decreases the rate of Internet addiction among adolescents.