The prevalence of suicidal thoughts among medical school students, the relationship between rumination, psychological resilience and smartphone addiction

Smartphone addiction is a type of behavioral addiction thought to involve psychological, environmental, biological, and social factors in its etiology. No study has revealed the relationship between psychological resilience, ruminative thinking style, suicidal thoughts, and smartphone addiction in their entirety. In order to reveal the relationship between psychological resilience, ruminative thinking style, suicidal thoughts, and smartphone addiction among medical school students, a study was conducted with a total of 483 students, including 238 girls and 245 boys. The students who participated in the study were individuals aged 18-36, who continued their education at Aydın Adnan Menderes University Faculty of Medicine in the 2023-2024 academic year and agreed to participate in the study. Participants were asked to respond to the Smartphone Addiction Short Form, Sociodemographic Data Form, Psychological Resilience Scale for Adults, Ruminative Thinking Style Scale, Beck Suicidal Ideation Scale, Beck Depression Scale, and Beck Anxiety Scale. There was a positive correlation between Smartphone Addiction Scale scores and Beck Depression Inventory scores, Beck Anxiety Inventory scores, Ruminative Thought Style Scale scores, and smartphone usage time, while a negative correlation was found with Psychological Resilience Scale scores. A significant positive relationship was found between Beck Suicidal Ideation Scale scores and Beck Depression Inventory scores, Beck Anxiety Inventory scores, Ruminative Thought Style Scale scores, and smartphone usage times, whereas a significant negative relationship was found with Psychological Resilience Scale scores. No correlation was found between the Smartphone Addiction Scale and Beck Suicidal Ideation Scale. In the logistic regression analysis of the clinical scales that had a significant correlation with Beck Suicidal Ideation Scale scores, the most related scale was found to be Beck Depression Inventory scores. In the linear regression analysis of the clinical scales that had a significant correlation with Beck Suicidal Ideation Scale scores, a statistically significant relationship was found with Beck Depression Inventory and Beck Anxiety Inventory scores. In the linear regression analysis of the clinical scales with Smartphone Addiction Scale scores, a statistically significant relationship was found with Ruminative Thought Style Scale and Psychological Resilience Scale scores. Mediation analysis revealed that the level of psychological resilience had a mediating effect on the relationship between ruminative thought style and smartphone addiction. The results suggest that psychological resilience and ruminative thinking style are related to smartphone addiction and that they may be guiding factors in predicting and preventing smartphone addiction. Keywords: smartphone addiction, rumination, psychological resilience, suicidal thoughts