Abstract:

Objective: This study was conducted to determine the rate of smartphone addiction in university students, factors that influence this addiction and the relationship between smartphone usage and headache. Materials and Methods: This study is a descriptive and cross-sectional study. Sampling was performed using the sample determination formula for a known population. In the collection of data, socio-demographic characteristics, variables related to headache and “The Smartphone Addiction Inventory – Short Form (SPAI-SF)” were used. Data were evaluated using the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), the independent t-test, the Chi-square analysis and logistic regression analysis, and were expressed as counts, percentages and mean±standard deviation. Results: Of the participants, 56.6% were female, 43.4% were male; 55.2% were aged 20 and under, 61.4% were living with their parents and 33.5% were living in a dormitory. 86.3% of the students stated that they used their smartphones for messaging and/or calling, 72.7% for internet, 69.4% for social media etc. While 32.7% of the students were addicted to their smartphones, 67.7% were not. A significant relationship was found between the status of smartphone addiction of the students and the frequency of headaches, the severity of headaches, the duration of daily smartphone usage and the duration of smartphone usage before sleep (p<0.05). Being a male, a one unit increase in the age of first-time smartphone use and smartphone addiction status increase the frequency of headaches by respectively 2.123 times, 1.147 times and 2.216 times (p<0.05). Conclusion: In our study, it was found that approximately one third of the students were addicted to smartphones. The relationship between smartphone usage and headache was proven by the high SPAI-SF scores of students who had frequent and severe headaches. Informing students about the negative effects of excessive smartphone usage on health is recommended.

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