The effect of social media use on health behaviours in secondary school students

Adolescents' use of social media has increased significantly over the last decade. With the increase in social media use in daily life, adolescents' health behaviors may also change. This research was conducted in a descriptive manner to evaluate the effect of social media use on health behaviors of secondary school students. The data of the research was collected between 15.11.2023-25.12.2023 using the "Student Introduction Form" and the "Impact of the Reality of Social Networks on Adolescents' Health Behavior Scale". The research was conducted with 169 secondary school students. Data were collected face to face. According to the findings, 50.3% of the students are women, 50.3% are between the ages of 16-18, and 57.4% are of average economic level. In addition, it was determined that 59.8% were interested in using social media networks, 70% used mobile phones to access social media, and 30.8% used Facebook. The overall score of the scale of the impact of the reality of social networks on adolescent health behaviors was found to be 88.76 ± 19.57. While the mean scores of the subscales are compared, the highest mean score (42.66 ± 11.83) was obtained in the physical health subscale, ıt was determined that the lowest mean score (13.28 ± 2.88) was obtained in the sexual health sub-dimension. According to the students' overall scale score evaluation, it was determined that their health behaviors (59.2%) were moderately affected. It was revealed that there was a significant effect between the students' gender, age, economic status, the devices they use, their interest in using social media networks, which social media applications they use and the effect of social networking sites (p <0.05). As a result, it has been found that social media use affects students' physical, psychological and sexual health.