The Prevalence and Associated Factors of Food Addiction and Internet Addiction in Turkish Adults

Background: It is necessary to know the prevalence and risk and protective factors of a disorder to prevent it, which food addiction (FA) and internet addiction (INTA) are not exception. It has been reported that the prevalence of these two types of addiction has been getting higher, affecting lots of people's psychological health in a detrimental way. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the common and distinctive predictive factors of FA and INTA. Methods: The sample of the study consisted of 704 adult participants with a mean age of 20.67 ± 2.40 years. Demographic form, The Modified Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0, Young's Internet Addiction Test-Short Form and Leisure-Time Physical Activity Questionnaire were used to collect data. Results: The results showed that the prevalence of FA and INTA were high in Turkish adults were determined to include Body Mass Index, social self-identification, and age. The factors associated with INTA included spending time on the internet and being non-active. Another main finding of the study was FA and INTA were the strongly associated with each other. Conclusions: Regarding the results, and it can be said that FA and INTA had a significant risk for each other, meant taking steps to prevent one can diminish the severity of the other. For this, multidisciplinary teams including mental and physical health professional should be established, and strategy programs should be prepared and implemented to individuals who are at risk.