Examination of the relationship between cognitive avoidance behavior and technology addiction among university students.

OBJECTIVES

Cognitive avoidance, encompassing strategies such as distraction, worry, and thought suppression, may lead to problematic and ineffective internet use over the long term. To examine the relationship between university students' cognitive avoidance and technology addiction.

METHODS

A cross-sectional correlational study. The research was conducted between June 2022 and February 2023 and involved 548 students at a university in Samsun Province.

RESULTS

The study revealed that 68.1% of participants were woman, with an average age of 20.79 ± 1.71 years. The participants' average Technology Addiction Scale score was 51.76 ± 15.58, and their average Cognitive Avoidance Scale score was 69.11 ± 20.34.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings reveal a significant relationship between technology addiction and cognitive avoidance, suggesting that technology can be used for avoidance and emotion regulation. The increase in addiction with longer internet use indicates that the behavior may develop through a reinforcing process. In line with these findings, technology addiction prevention efforts targeting university students should focus not only on usage time but also on reducing cognitive avoidance and developing healthy coping skills. Health professionals, including nurses, can play an active role in combating addiction by identifying at-risk students, providing psychoeducation and counselling services, and implementing emotion regulation-based programmes. Experimental research is needed to examine the effect of intervention programmes targeting cognitive avoidance on technology addiction.