Study of the relationship between smartphone addiction and head and shoulder posture curvatures in adolescent individuals

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the relationship between smartphone addiction and head and shoulder posture curvatures in adolescents. The sample group consisted of a total of 408 participants, 284 male and 124 female students studying at the secondary level in Elazığ, while the population of the study consisted of adolescents between the ages of 14-17. Before the research, a voluntary consent form signed by their parents was obtained from the participants. "Smartphone Addiction Scale Short Form (SAS-SF)" and "Posturescreen" mobile applications were used as data collection tools. Independent-sample T-tests and One Way Anova tests were applied In the statistical review of the obtained data. Pearson Correlation analysis was applied to determine the relationship between smartphone dependency level and posture curvatures. The data obtained from the participants were examined in terms of gender, age, daily phone usage time, and phone usage history variables. There were no significant differences in gender, age, and usage history variables. A significant difference was found between the groups using between 1-3 hours, 3-5 hours, and over 5 hours in the daily usage time variable. It has been determined that as the daily usage time increases, smartphone addiction and head and shoulder curvatures increase. A moderate positive relationship was found between smartphone addiction and head and shoulder posture curvatures. As the participants' smartphone addiction increased, so did their head and shoulder curvatures. As a result; A significant relationship was found between smartphone addiction and head and posture curvatures. The increase in smartphone addiction also increases posture curvatures. In addition, the increase in smartphone daily usage time has increased the level of addiction and posture curvatures.