Internet Addiction and Quality of Life of Adolescents Who Apply to Family Medicine Outpatient Clinics During the COVID-19 Pandemic Process

Abstract

The aim of the study was to evaluate the internet addiction and quality of life of adolescents admitted to family medicine outpatient clinics and to examine the relationship between this situation and the pandemic process. This cross-sectional study included 126 adolescent who applied to Family Medicine Polyclinics between July 10 and September 10, 2020. A socio demographic questionnaire, young internet addiction scale (YIAT-SF), World Health Organization Quality of Life Short form, Turkish Version (WHOQOL-BREF-TR) were applied to determine the level of internet addiction and quality of life by calculation of total score. 50% of the adolescents in our study were females and 50% were males. The mean age was 13.2 years ± 3.2 years (median: 13 years) and 82 of the children (65.08%) were attending primary school-secondary school, and 44 (34.92%) were attending high school. In the survey, it was seen that they had less social friendship and playing on the street as their social environment are based on social media. It was seen that 87% of the adolescents who participated in the survey had internet connection at home. The use of social media during the pandemic process increased and even adolescents who did not post anything in the social media before the pandemic process shared their posts more frequently. During the pandemic process, sleep disturbances, increased daily sleep hours and weight gain was observed. In the Covid-19 period an increase in internet addiction and a decrease in the quality of life were seen in adolescents.