Based on the increase of smartphone addiction among students, understanding the effects of smartphone addiction on students’ health is essential for developing appropriate interventions. This study has been conducted
in order to investigate the relationship between smartphone addiction and quality of life among students
at Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS). This cross-sectional study has been performed using the
stratified sampling method on 320 TUMS students in 2017. The data collection tool includes a demographic
questionnaire, the Cellphone over-use Scale (COS), and the World Health Organization’s Quality of Life questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF). Data have been analyzed through SPSS 18 using the t-test, ANOVA, Pearson’
correlation coefficient, and multiple linear regressions. Students’ mean age is 24.45±4.46; 45.6% are male. A
significant inverse relationship exists between smartphone addiction scores and the quality of life scores for
physical, mental, and social aspects (p<0.05). Smartphone addiction scores are significantly higher for females,
bachelors, and married students (p<0.05). The smartphone addiction score determines 6% of the variance in
quality of life. Alongside addiction, smartphone overuse may negatively influence the physical, mental, and
social aspects of students’ quality of life.
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The purpose of this study is to examine the determinants of cigarette consumption during 1960-2016 in Turkey
by employing the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach. The variables of real Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, real price of cigarettes, tertiary school enrollment (gross %), urban population (% of total), and tobacco control were adapted as the independent variables. The estimation results reveal
that real GDP per capita, urbanization, and tobacco controls positively affect the cigarette consumption while
the cigarette prices and level of education negatively affect smoking. Urbanization is the most impactful variable
on cigarette consumption, followed respectively by tertiary school enrollment, real GDP per capita, real price of
cigarettes, and tobacco control. The estimation results also suggest that controlling the cigarette prices and educating people about the hazardous effects of smoking are important policies for reducing cigarette consumption.
The tobacco control policies have not yet had a reducing effect on the cigarette consumption.
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This study was conducted to test the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the South Oaks Gambling Screen-Revised for Adolescents (SOGS-RA). The study included a sample of 356 Turkish high school
students who reported that they had gambled at least once in the previous year (26.4% females, 73.6%
males; mean age=17.09; SD=1.33; range 14-19). In addition to the SOGS-RA gambling motives, gambling
related faulty cognitions, and gambling frequency of the participants were also utilized for the relevant
analyses. The internal consistency analysis revealed a satisfactory value (α=0.88) for the Turkish version of
the SOGS-RA. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the unifactorial structure of the scale. Positive and
significant correlations of the SOGS-RA scores with gambling motives, gambling-related faulty cognitions,
and gambling frequency supported the validity of the scale. The results suggested that the Turkish version of
the SOGS-RA was a valid and reliable instrument to assess gambling problems among Turkish adolescents.
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The objective of this study is to analyze the relationship of gaming addiction tendencies for students studying in schools with intelligence games course compared to those without and to start a conceptual discussion. The study adopts the quantitative approach with data being collected using a questionnaire. The
study has been conducted during the 2019 spring semester. The study sample includes students in equal
numbers from the same socio-economic levels and from schools with and without intelligence games courses in Düzce’s city center. A total of 1.870 students have been analyzed within the scope of the study. The
study’s results indicate that the students studying in schools with an intelligence games course are less
likely to develop gaming addiction. Accordingly, intelligence games courses may be used successfully in the
fight against gaming addiction. Those who prefer online games can further be argued to be more likely to
develop gaming addiction, which leads us to the conclusion that online games are a critical element in the
development of gaming addiction. Finally, the study has revealed male students to be more likely to develop
gaming addictions than female students. Therefore, gender and online gaming should be considered as the
risk factors for game addiction.
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This study was conducted to determine the psychosocial health levels, substance use frequency, and factors affecting the students in the faculty of health sciences. A total of 681 senior year students studying in the faculty
of health sciences in Sivas Cumhuriyet University between March 20 and April 15, 2018 were included in this
descriptive and cross-sectional study, which constituted 86.4% of the students at the university. Data were collected using student identification form, depression anxiety stress scale, and substance use information form.
Student t, Mann-Whitney U, Chi-squared, and Kruskal-Wallis tests, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation analysis were used for statistical evaluation. It was determined that 16.9% of the students used substances such as
cigarettes, alcohol, narcotic drugs, and heroin/hashish during internship. The depression and stress levels were
found to be normal, and the anxiety levels were mild according to the students' depression, anxiety and stress
scale mean scores; 14.2% of the students had severe depression, 20.9% had severe anxiety, and 9.4% had severe
stress. Depression, anxiety, and stress levels of students who used substances were found to be higher. The
students preferred smoking, alcohol, and substance use as a coping method due to the psychosocial problems.
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Drug dreams, i.e., dreams in which drug-addicted patients use or attempt to use drugs, are a well-documented clinical phenomenon in drug addiction. These dreams offer a useful way to understand the vicissitudes
of drug craving in patients who are drug addicts as well as their ability to cope with it. Authors consider
drug dreams as a valuable clinical tool in the treatment of drug addiction. Although pathological gambling
disorder is a form of behavioral addiction that has several aspects in common with substance addiction,
gambling dreams (i.e., dreams about gambling) are seldom described in scientific literature. This study aimed
to provide the first systematic investigation on the presence of “gambling dreams” among abstinent pathological gamblers. A total of 10 individuals who arrived consecutively for outpatient treatment at the Centre
for Drug Addiction were evaluated on the basis of South Oaks Gambling Scale. They also completed a
questionnaire on gambling dreams. The results showed that most pathological gamblers report gambling
dreams. These dreams can be considered in terms of frequency, content, and relationship with craving in the
same way as drug dreams for drug addiction. Further studies might also shed light on the clinical utility of
gambling dreams for treatment of pathological gamblers.
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This study was conducted to determine the hookah smoking profiles among university students and their
perceptions of the health effects of hookah. The stratified random sampling method was used, and each
school was accepted as a layer. The number of students to be included in the sample from each class was
determined by dividing the total number of students to be taken from the school by the number of classes
in that school. After determining the number of students who would be taken from each class, the students to be included in the sample were selected from the student lists using a simple random sampling
method. The sample of this study included 625 students from a university. The data collection tools were
(a) a personal information form containing the sociodemographic characteristics of the students, the
characteristics of smoking and hookah smoking behavior, and (b) the perception scale of the effects of
hookah use on health. The data were collected by the researchers between February 5 and May 5, 2018,
by distributing the questionnaires and scale forms to the students in the classroom environment and
having them fill the forms. The data obtained were evaluated in the Statistical Package for the Social
Sciences 22.0 program using chi-square, significance test of the difference between the 2 means, variance
analysis, Mann–Whitney U test, Kruskal–Wallis H test, and logistic regression analysis. In this study,
it was found that the frequency of hookah use was 65.2% in male students and 34.8% in female students,
and the mean score of the students from the perception scale of the effects of hookah use on health was
60.83±9.96. The mean score of the students who do not smoke hookah (62.53±9.70) was higher than that
of those who smoke hookah (57.45±9.83), and the difference between them was statistically significant
(p<0.05). It was found that students who did not use hookah knew better about the harmful effects of
hookah than those who used hookah. It was also found that smoking cigarettes increases the possibility
of smoking hookah by 3.05 (confidence interval, 1.11-8.33) times. As a result, the frequency of smoking
hookah was found to be high among the students, and the students who smoke hookah were less aware of
the adverse health effects of hookah use.
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The aim of the present study was to evaluate the relationship between Internet gaming disorder (IGD) symptom severity with probable attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and alexithymia symptoms, while
controlling anxiety and depression symptoms. The cross-sectional online study was conducted with 987 volunteer university students in Ankara, Turkey. Age was lower and first Internet use was earlier among the group
with probable ADHD (n=166, 16.8%) than that without (n=821, 83.2%). There were no significant differences
in gender or romantic relationship status between these groups, whereas the scale scores, duration of daily
Internet gaming, and problems related to Internet gaming were higher in the probable ADHD group. Probable
ADHD, continuous scores on alexithymia (particularly “difficulty identifying feelings” [DIF] and “externally
oriented thinking” [EOT] dimensions), depression, and anxiety symptoms were associated with higher severity
of IGD symptoms. ADHD, alexithymia (as a binary variable), depression, and anxiety predicted the severity
of IGD symptoms, although these effects involving probable ADHD and alexithymia did not interact. These
findings suggest that probable ADHD and both the severity of alexithymia (particularly DIF and EOT dimensions) and presence of probable alexithymia are related with the severity of IGD symptoms, even when
controlling the effects of depression and anxiety, among university students.
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This study investigated the causal relationships between quality of social relationships and smartphone addiction in high school students. The research used exploratory sequential mixed design and was carried out in two
stages: qualitative and quantitative. In the qualitative stage, a focus group interview was conducted to examine
students’ views on the relationship between quality of social relationships and smartphone addiction. In the
quantitative stage, a survey was conducted, using questions developed from findings obtained in the qualitative
stage and various measurement tools. Participants included 11th and 12th graders. Eight participants recruited
based on smartphone use took part in the qualitative stage, while 620 students were recruited on a voluntary-basis for the quantitative stage. An interview form developed by the authors was used in the qualitative
stage, while the Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version, UCLA Loneliness Scale-Short Form, Perceptions
of Parents Scale, and Social Self-Efficacy Scale were used in the quantitative stage. Content analysis was carried out on qualitative data, and multiple linear regression was conducted on quantitative data. The findings
revealed that smartphone addiction was positively associated with loneliness, multipurpose smartphone use,
social media, and having nothing to do, and negatively associated with perception of one’s mother, perception
of one’s father, and spending quality time with friends. Social media had the highest contribution to the variance in smartphone addiction.
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Internet addiction has become one of the most important problems of today's youth and received considerable
attention from scholars. Research demonstrated significant impairments in psychological and social functioning among internet dependents. Given this, the present study aimed to investigate the relationship between
fear of missing out (FoMO), internet addiction, and psychological symptoms. Based on research demonstrating
that FoMO, the pervasive anxiety associated with the feeling that one is missing out others’ satisfying experiences, increases social media engagement, it was expected that FoMO would relate to internet addiction, which
in turn would be linked to poor psychological well-being. The sample consisted of 322 undergraduate students
who filled out items measuring FoMO, internet addiction and psychological symptoms. The regression analysis
revealed that internet addiction acts as a mediator in the link between FoMO and psychological symptoms.
That is, the participants’ greater FoMO is linked to higher levels of psychological symptoms both directly and
indirectly through a higher level of internet addiction. Overall, the present study provides an insight into our
understanding of the psychological and behavioral aspects of internet addiction, and thus, makes an important
contribution to the promotion of mental health.
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