The role of loneliness and aggression on smartphone addiction among university students

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has become a major health problem worldwide. In addition to the physical effects of COVID-19 on individuals, it has caused psychological and social problems on individuals. One of these problems is related to feelings of loneliness they experienced during the pandemic process and the increase in aggression and smartphone addiction levels, which are thought to be related. The main goal of current research is to explore the effects of loneliness and aggression behaviors on smartphone addiction. The data of the study were obtained from 843 university students (565 female and 278 male; 17-54 age range) who voluntarily participated in the research from 68 of 81 provinces in Turkey. Research data were obtained based on participants' self-reports through an online questionnaire. Personal information form, Smartphone Addiction Scale, UCLA Loneliness Scale, and Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire were used as data collection tools. Research findings show that the feeling of loneliness affects aggression behaviors and smartphone addiction, and aggression behaviors also affect smartphone addiction. Therefore, it can be said that loneliness and aggression are variables in predicting university students' smartphone addiction.