Digital addiction: Are children in danger? Are parents aware?

Purpose: To determine the digital game addiction levels of secondary school students and to examine the parental awareness against digital game addiction levels of students.

Design and methods: This is a descriptive and correlational study. The population of the study consisted of students in a secondary school and 392 students were included in the study. The data were collected using the "Digital Parenting Awareness Scale (DPAS)," and "Digital Game Addiction Scale for Children (DGAS-child form). In the study, Kurtosis and Skewness coefficients were used for normal distribution; mean, standard deviation, percentage, and frequency were used to evaluate quantitative data; and Pearson chi-square analysis was used to make correlational inferences.

Result: The DGAS mean score of the students was 47.31 ± 16.19. The results of the study showed that the parents had high level of digital awareness. It was found that the students' DGAS mean score had a weak positive correlation with RM subscale of DPAS and a moderate positive correlation with DN subscale of DPAS. DGAS mean score had a weak negative correlation with EU and PR subscales of DPAS. Parents-children's age did not affect the levels of DGAS and DPAS.

Conclusion: Raising parents' digital awareness reduces digital game addiction in their children.

Practical implications: One of the most important roles of nurses is education. Parent trainings for children to use digital devices correctly and efficiently contribute to improving digital awareness of parents and protecting/promoting child health.