{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,19]],"date-time":"2026-08-19T14:25:08Z","timestamp":1787149508922,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":44,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,19]],"date-time":"2026-08-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1787097600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Children"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background\/Objectives: Problematic internet use (PIU) is a growing behavioral health concern among school-aged children. Whether health literacy and health-promoting lifestyle beliefs are associated with PIU among gifted children\u2014a developmentally distinct population\u2014has, to the best of our knowledge, not been investigated. Methods: A cross-sectional correlational design was used with 118 gifted students (M = 13.80, SD = 2.06) attending a Science and Art Center (B\u0130LSEM) in \u0130zmir, T\u00fcrkiye. Data were collected using the Problematic Internet Use Scale\u2013Adolescent Form (PIUS-A; \u03b1 = 0.92), the Health Literacy for School-Aged Children Scale (HLSAC; \u03b1 = 0.87), and the Adolescent Health-Promoting Lifestyle Beliefs Scale (AHPLBS; \u03b1 = 0.91) in a classroom setting under researcher supervision. A three-step hierarchical multiple linear regression was performed, with age, sex, daily sleep duration, daily screen time, and weekly physical activity entered as covariates in the first step. Results: Covariates explained 24.8% of the variance in PIU (p &lt; 0.001), with daily screen time as the strongest predictor (\u03b2 = 0.36). Health-promoting lifestyle beliefs added significant incremental variance (\u0394R2 = 0.063, p = 0.023); health beliefs were the only statistically significant belief predictor (\u03b2 = \u22120.24, p = 0.036), with lower health belief scores associated with higher PIU. Health literacy domains did not add statistically significant incremental variance (\u0394R2 = 0.028, p = 0.495), and no individual domain was a statistically significant predictor. Conclusions: Within the constraints of a cross-sectional design, health beliefs appear to play a more prominent role than health literacy in the covariate-adjusted explanation of PIU among gifted school-aged children. School health nurses may prioritize interventions that strengthen internalized health beliefs alongside information-based education, contributing to more equitable, tailored school health services for this population.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/children13081110","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,19]],"date-time":"2026-08-19T13:14:01Z","timestamp":1787145241000},"page":"1110","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Predictors of Problematic Internet Use Among Gifted Children: The Role of Health Literacy and Health-Promoting Lifestyle Beliefs"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4292-8849","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Emine Zahide","family":"\u00d6zdemir","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatric Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Dokuz Eyl\u00fcl University, 35340 \u0130zmir, T\u00fcrkiye"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3327-8204","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Murat","family":"Bekta\u015f","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatric Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Dokuz Eyl\u00fcl University, 35340 \u0130zmir, T\u00fcrkiye"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1524-0600","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Necati","family":"\u00d6zcan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Konak \u015eehit \u00d6mer Halisdemir Science and Art Center, Ministry of National Education, 35280 \u0130zmir, T\u00fcrkiye"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0000-5673-9187","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Beren \u00c7a\u011fla","family":"Ereng\u00f6n\u00fcl","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Konak \u015eehit \u00d6mer Halisdemir Science and Art Center, Ministry of National Education, 35280 \u0130zmir, T\u00fcrkiye"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"425","DOI":"10.1111\/pcn.12532","article-title":"Cross-sectional and longitudinal epidemiological studies of Internet gaming disorder: A systematic review of the literature","volume":"71","author":"Mihara","year":"2017","journal-title":"Psychiatry Clin. 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