The relationship between marital satisfaction and smartphone addiction in married individuals

Introduction: Smartphone addiction has become one of the most important problems with the developing technologies, nowadays. Therefore, smartphone addiction is thought to cause negative consequences in the marital relationship as it affects people badly in many ways Objective: In this study, it was aimed to examine the relationship between smartphone addiction, marital satisfaction and depression in terms of socio-demographic characteristics. Materials and Methods: This research was carried out on 534 married women and men using questionnaires filled in internet. The data of the study were obtained using the Socio-demographic Information Form, Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS), Marriage Life Scale (MLS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Statistical analysis was carried out with SPSS (version 21.0 IBM, USA) package program. A value of p <0.05 was accepted for statistical significance. Results: A statistically significant relationship was found among participants' total scores of Smartphone Addiction Scales, Marital Life Scale and Beck Depression Inventory. It is found while there is a negative relationship between smartphone addiction and marital satisfaction total scores there was a positive relationship between smartphone addiction and the total score of depression. In addition, as a result of the comparison of the participants' marital characteristics and their smartphone addiction scores, it was found that sexual life was affected negatively in individuals with high smartphone addiction. When the socio-demographic characteristics of the individuals participating in the study are examined with their smartphone addiction scores; a statistically significant difference was found in the comparisons of educational status, socio-economic status and diagnosis of psychiatric illness. When Marriage Life Scale scores were compared with socio-demographic characteristics, a significant relationship was found between all factors except gender. When the Beck Depression Scale scores are compared with the socio-demographic characteristics of the participants; it is found that there is a significant difference among depression and gender, employment status, and status of being diagnosed with psychiatric illness. Conclusion: In this study, it is seen that smartphone addiction has a negative effect on marital satisfaction. It was concluded that individuals with high smartphone addiction have low marital satisfaction. While conducting research on marital satisfaction, it would be beneficial to consider the factor: the smartphone addiction. Also, in smartphone addiction prevention and intervention studies, it is thought that socio-demographic characteristics should also be taken into consideration.