DEPRESSION, INTERNET ADDICTION AND LONELINESS RELATIONS IN ADOLESCENTS OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

Abstract

This study is conducted as a cross sectional research in order to investigate the depression, internet addiction and loneliness relationship in adolescents of high school students. It is targeted to reach 690 students. In the study, Personal Information Form, Beck Depression Scale, Internet Addiction Scale and UCLA Loneliness Scale are used. In the evaluation of the data, descriptive statistics (frequency and percentage values, minimum, maximum, average and standard deviation), and Pearson correlation coefficients are used. When the characteristics of adolescents of high school students participated the survey are examined, it is found that 46.0% of the adolescents are women, 30.6% of them study in 9th grade, 30.9% of them are 17 years old, and 74.3% of them have internet connections in their homes. It is determined that the level of internet addiction in the adolescents with depression tendency (=19.40±18.61) is significantly higher than the adolescents without depression tendency (=9.81±11.77) and the level of loneliness in the adolescents with depression tendency (=52.61±6.57) is significantly higher than the adolescents without depression tendency (=50.75±6.74). It is determined that there is no significant relation between the levels of loneliness and internet addiction in the adolescents (r=0.011; p>0.05). Besides, it is determined that there is a positive and high level relation between the depression level and internet addiction of the adolescents (r=0.384; p<0.05) and there is a positive and low level relation between the loneliness level and internet addiction of the adolescents (r=0.090; p<0.05)