The relationship between internet addiction and internet family attitude, cyberbullying and victimisation in adolescents

Aim: This study was conducted to determine the relationship between internet addiction and internet family attitudes, cyberbullying and victimization in adolescents. Material and Method: The sample of the descriptive and correlational study was composed of students studying in high schools in Gölköy district center of Ordu province and meeting the criteria for inclusion in the study. The study was conducted on 383 high school students between January 11, 2024 and November 04, 2024. Data were collected by the researcher using the "Personal Information Form", "Young Internet Addiction Short Form (YİBT-KF)", "Internet Family Style Scale", "Cyber Bully/Victim Scale" using face-to-face interview technique. Descriptive statistics, Student-t Test, Mann Whitney U test, One-Way ANOVA, Kruskal Wallis test, Pearson and Spearman correlation analysis and regression analysis were used in the analysis of the data. A statistical significance level of p<0.05 was accepted. Institutional permission and ethics committee approval were obtained for the study. Results: It was determined that the total YİBT-KF mean score of the adolescents was 28.89±9.10, the total score mean of the Family Style Scale Family Control sub-dimension was 22.46±8.51 and the total score mean of the Family Closeness sub-dimension was 37.92±14.41. It was determined that the total mean score of the Cyberbullying and Victimization Scale of Adolescents in the Cyberbully dimension, the Virtual Environment Obstruction and Harm sub-dimension was 38.83±2.15 and the total mean score of the Virtual Environment Rumor-Making sub-dimension was 19.11±2.09 points; the total mean score of the Virtual Victim dimension, the Virtual Environment Obstruction and Harm sub-dimension was 38.87±2.68 and the total mean score of the Virtual Environment Rumor-Making sub-dimension was 19.18±2.27 points. In the study, it was determined that there was a significant relationship between the scores of the Family Closeness, Virtual Victim Dimension Virtual Environment Obstruction and Harm Sub-dimension, Cyber Bully Dimension Virtual Environment Rumor-Making sub-dimension of the adolescents and the Internet Addiction variable (p=0.000). Conclusions: As a result of the study, it was determined that the students' internet addiction, family control and closeness, and cyber bully and victim scale total mean scores were at a moderate level. In addition, a 1-unit increase in the family closeness score causes a 0.074-unit decrease in the internet addiction score; a 1-unit increase in the Virtual Victim-Virtual Environment Obstruction and Harm Sub-Dimension score causes a 0.695-unit decrease in the Internet Addiction score; a 1-unit increase in the Cyber Bully-Virtual Environment Rumor-Making Sub-Dimension score causes a 0.815-unit decrease in the Internet Addiction score. In line with the results of the study, it is recommended to develop intervention programmes to reduce internet addiction, cyberbullying and victimisation and to design these programmes with approaches based on family styles. Keywords: Adolescent, internet family attitude, nursing, internet addiction, cyber victimization, cyber bullying.