The Relationship Between Digital Addiction Among University Students and Adherence to The Mediterranean Diet and Sustainable Eating Behaviors

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between the level of digital addiction and both adherence to the Mediterranean diet and sustainable healthy eating behaviors among university students. This study is an observational, crosssectional study conducted among students of in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Erzurum Technical University. A total of 281 participants were included in the study. The research instruments comprised a general information form, the Mediterranean Diet Adherence Scale (MEDAS), the Sustainable and Healthy Eating Behaviors Scale (SHE), and the Digital Addiction Scale (DAS). Descriptive statistics, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Tukey’s post hoc test, Pearson correlation analysis, and multivariate regression analysis were performed. Participants’ DAS scores were found to be higher in the group with low adherence to the Mediterranean diet in the low-adherence Mediterranean diet group (p < 0.05). Significant negative correlations were observed between MEDAS scores and both the total DAS score and its subdimensions. Similarly, a significant negative association was found between SHE scores and the total DAS score (p < 0.05). According to the regression analysis, DAS scores decreased with increasing MEDAS and SHE scores (p < 0.05). These findings suggest that increased levels of digital addiction among university students may be negatively associated with adherence to the Mediterranean diet and to sustainable healthy eating behaviors. The results indicate that digital addiction may be associated with dietary behaviors.