Investigating the Relationship Between Rumination and Internet Addiction That May Exist in Parents of Children with Special Educational Needs

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to examine the relationships between rumination and internet addiction that may exist in parents of children with special educational needs (SEN). In this research, the 'mixed research method' was used. In this study, 'exploratory sequential design', one of the mixed research methods, was preferred by the researchers. Therefore, both quantitative and qualitative research methods were used in this research. The study group of the quantitative data of the research consists of a total of 586 participants, 350 mothers (59.7%) and 236 fathers (40.3%), reached through the ‘purposeful sampling method’. The study group of qualitative data consisted of parents of 6 children with special educational needs, 3 mothers and 3 fathers. The quantitative data collection tools of this research were used: ‘Rumination About an Interpersonal Offense Scale (α=.94)’ and 'Young Internet Addiction Test (α=.93)'. The data obtained via qualitative research method were collected through the 'semi-structured interview form' developed by the researchers. In the analysis of quantitative data, parametric tests were used, such as t-test, correlation, and regression statistical techniques. The analysis of qualitative data was analyzed using the ‘descriptive analysis method’. According to the findings of this research; 1) Internet addiction scores of parents of children with special educational needs do not differ significantly according to gender (t₅₈₄=.318, p>.05), 2) There is a positive, moderately significant relationship between the rumination scores and internet addiction scores of parents of children with SEN  (r=.341, p<.01), 3.  As a result of the regression analysis, it was found that the rumination scores of parents of children with SEN  significantly predicted their internet addiction scores (F_1-584=76.832, R=.34, R²=.17, p<.01), 4) According to the findings of the qualitative data in this research, parents of children with special educational needs stated that they think too much about what they can do for their children so that they can learn self-care skills and act as independent individuals and that these thoughts negatively affect them, 5)  It was revealed that they did not spend much time using the internet with their children, 6) they use the internet when they take their children to education centers, particularly while waiting for their children, 7) they spend more time on social media on the internet.