Effect of Internet Addiction on the Sleep Quality of Adolescents During COVID-19 Pandemia Duration Period

Abstract

Objective: This study was conducted to determine the effect of internet addiction on the sleep quality of adolescents during the Coronavirus (COVID) period. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional, descriptive, and correlational design study was conducted in the high schools located in a city center between March-June 2021. The universe of the study consisted of students aged between 13 and 18 years old and the study was completed with 413 students. Demographic information form, internet addiction scale for adolescents (IASA) and Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) were used to collect data. In order to evaluate the data, number, mean, percentile distributions, t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), Kruskal-Wallis test and Spearman correlation analysis tests were used in SPSS 21 statistical program. Results: A total of 40.9% of the participants were found to spend 4-6 hours on the Internet during the pandemic and 85.2% had poor sleep quality. While the total mean scores obtained from the IASA was 20.30 +/- 8.87, it was 8.19 +/- 2.50 from the PSQI. The time spent daily on the Internet for non-educational purposes during COVID and the characteristics of the time spent on the internet compared to the pre-COVID period were significantly correlated with the mean total scores of IASA (p<0.05). A weak positive significant relationship was found between the total mean scores of the adolescents' IASA and PSQI scales (r=0.216, p<0.000). Conclusion: In the study, more sleep problems were observed among the adolescents as their internet addiction levels increased throughout the study.