Analysis of Mental Disorders and Social Media Addiction of Adolescent Nursing Students on The Basis of Gender

Abstract

Objective: This research was devised for analyzing mental disorders and social media addiction of adolescent nursing students on the basis of gender. Methods: The population of this descriptive research was comprised of students of Nursing Department of the Faculty of Health Sciences of a public university in Turkey. Research data were collected via ‘Personal Information Form’ which addressed socio-demographic characteristics of participants, ‘Social Media Addiction Scale (SMA Scale)’ and ‘Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI)’. Frequencies, means, standard deviations, Kruskal-Wallis test and Mann-Whitney U test were utilized in the analysis of data obtained through the research. Results: Mean age of students taking part in the research is 19.69±1.15. It was found that 51.3% of students participating in the research were females and smoking was more common among female students. It was ascertained that females had higher means of scores obtained from overall BSI and its anxiety, depression, and negative self-evaluation sub-scales. In light of the finding that the mean of scores obtained by female students from the overall SMA Scale was 77.00 (41-143), it was identified that female students had social media addiction. It was found that there was a statistically significant positive relationship between the mean of scores of overall SMA Scale & its sub-scales and overall BSI & its sub-scales. Conclusions: Initiatives and activities that can improve students ' mental health and reduce their social media addictions should be planned.