Psychiatric symptoms linked to internet addiction

Adolescents with psychiatric symptoms such as depression and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder may be more likely to develop an addiction to the internet.

New research published in the journal Archives of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine warns the addiction can have a negative impact on school performance, family relationships and adolescents' emotional state.

Previous studies report that 1.4 percent to 17.9 percent of adolescents are addicted to the internet in both Western and Eastern societies

Researchers examined the relationship between psychiatric symptoms such as ADHD, social phobia and hostility and internet addiction in 2,293 seventh-graders from ten junior high schools in southern Taiwan.

They also noted differences in the predictive value of these psychiatric symptoms between males and females.

Psychiatric symptoms were determined through self-reported questionnaires. Internet addiction was assessed by the Chen Internet Addiction Scale (CIAS) at baseline and at six, 12 and 24 months with scores ranging from 26 to 104.

Participants scoring 64 or higher were classified as being addicted to the Internet.

Of all those who took part in the study, 233 (10.8 per cent) were classified as having an addiction to the internet.

The researchers report that although depression, ADHD, social phobia and hostility were found to predict the occurrence of internet addiction in the two-year follow-up, depression and social phobia predicted internet addiction among only female adolescents.

Additionally, the most significant predictors of internet addiction in male and female adolescents were hostility and ADHD, respectively.

The authors conclude: 'These results suggest that ADHD, hostility, depression and social phobia should be detected early on and intervention carried out to prevent internet addiction in adolescents.

'Also, sex differences in psychiatric comorbidity should be taken into consideration when developing prevention and intervention strategies for internet addiction.'

In an accompanying editorial, Dr Dimitri Christakis and Dr Moreno, from the Centre for Child Health, Behaviour and Development in Seattle, said today's society both 'mandates and facilitates time spent online'.

'Woven as it is into the fabric of today's society, the potential for internet use to lead to overuse and ultimately to addiction is concerning,' they warn.

'Part of the failure to recognize this potential 21st-century epidemic is the simple fact that many of us, Blackberry in hand, check e-mail more than we would like. The inherent difficulties in defining internet addiction and our own need for rectification should not prevent us from recognizing an emerging epidemic.

'As paediatricians and indeed as parents, we have all experienced the pull that the internet can have on children.'

'If all at-risk children achieve sufficient exposure to become addicted, the prevalence of internet addiction may easily approach the two per cent to 12 per cent of children reported in other countries, quickly ranking it among the most common chronic diseases of childhood.'