Investigation of the Relationships between Digital Game Addiction, Nutritional Attitudes and Body Mass Index Values of 12-14 Year Old Children

Abstract

This study was conducted to examine the relationships between digital game addiction, nutritional attitudes and body mass indexes in children aged 12-14. Before starting the study, necessary permission and ethics committee approval were obtained for the research. Research data were collected face-to-face in some schools in the Menteşe district of Muğla province. The mean age of the children participating in the study was 12.83±0.71 years for girls and 12.95±0.68 years for boys. Body mass index values were determined as 21.58±2.64 kg/m2 for girls and 21.88±2.87 kg/m2 for boys. According to the gender variable, a significant difference was found between the digital game addiction values and the positive nutrition, malnutrition sub-dimensions and total scores of attitudes toward nutrition (p<0.05). A significant difference was found between the digital game addiction values and the sub-dimensions of knowledge about nutrition according to the age variable (p<0.05). There was a positive correlation between the digital game addiction of boys and the feeling of nutrition; On the other hand, significant negative correlations were found between digital game addiction and malnutrition. On the other hand, negative and significant relationships were found between digital game addiction and nutritional emotion, digital game addiction and positive nutrition, digital game addiction and malnutrition, and digital game addiction and Attitude Scale for Healthy Nutrition (ASHN) total scores of girls. As a result, it is thought that the presence of digital game addiction and some negative factors related to nutrition among children can also affect unhealthy eating attitudes, and this situation, combined with the effect of a sedentary lifestyle, may have very important consequences for children's health.