Investigating the effects of postural habits and awareness on early adolescent's internet addiction levels.

Objectives: Early adolescence is a period of growth and development determined by the onset of puberty, during which important changes in psychological development and social roles occur. Excessive use of the internet, especially in adolescents in this period, causes health problems such as postural disorders, vision problems, sedentary life, and unbalanced nutrition. When the studies are analyzed, it is observed that postural disorders are observed in children and adolescents. This study was planned to investigate the effect of postural habits and awareness on the level of internet addiction in early adolescents.

Methods: Physical characteristics of the participants (age, height, weight, gender, body mass index) were recorded. Duration and purpose of internet use and internet addiction were determined with the Young Internet Addiction Test-Short Form, body composition sensitivity level with the Body Awareness Questionnaire, and postural awareness with the Postural Habit and Awareness Scale.

Results: There was a significant positive correlation between internet addiction and duration of internet use (r=0.466) (p=0.000). In addition, there was no relationship between internet usage time and body awareness (r=-0.117) (p=0.084) and postural awareness and habit (r=-0.017) (p=0.798). When internet addiction was compared with body awareness, a significant relationship was found in the opposite direction (r=-0.145) (p=0.031). When internet addiction was compared with postural awareness and habit, a positive relationship was found (r=0.190) (p=0.005).

Conclusions: Our study showed that internet addiction negatively affects body awareness, and does not affect postural habits, but positively affects postural awareness.