Investigation of the relationship between high school students' internet addiction and peer bullying levels

Due to the rapid development of technology, the internet has become an important part of daily life. However, the internet has both positive and negative aspects. The most important of these is addiction to the internet. It is thought that the communication skills of individuals whose addiction to the internet increases are weakened. As a result of the weakening of communication skills, the way individuals express themselves changes negatively. One of the most important consequences of this situation is bullying among peers. Therefore, it is thought that there is a relationship between internet addiction and peer bullying. Based on this idea, the present study aimed to examine the effect of high school students' internet addiction levels on peer bullying. The population of the research consists of high school students (9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grades) studying in the central district of Izmit, Kocaeli province, in the 2022-2023 academic year. The sample of the research includes a total of 350 students in the 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grades studying at a secondary education institution affiliated with the Ministry of Education in the central district of Kocaeli province. The sample of the research was determined by simple random method. "Personal Information Form", "Internet Addiction Scale for Adolescents" and "Peer Bullying Scale" were used to collect data in the study. The analysis of the data obtained was made with the SPSS 22.0 package program, and Mann-Whitney U Test, Kruskal Wallis Test, Spearman Rank Difference Correlation tests were used. As a result of the analysis of the data obtained in the research; While it was determined that the level of internet addiction differed significantly only according to the grade levels of the students, it was concluded that there was no difference regarding other variables (gender, mother/father's education level, family income level). Similarly, in the data regarding the peer bullying levels of the high school students participating in the research, it was understood that there was a significant difference only regarding the grade level variable. In addition, while no difference could be detected in the overall peer bullying scale regarding the gender variable, it was concluded that there was a significant difference in the "physical bullying" and "exclusion" sub-dimensions. As a result of the analysis made for correlation; A positive, moderately significant relationship was detected between the total score of the "Identification of Peer Bullying" scale and the "Internet Addiction for Adolescents" scale.