Michael Kaess1, Peter Parzer2, Romuald Brunner2, Julian Koenig3, Tony Durkee4, Vladimir Carli4, Camilla Wasserman5, Christina W Hoven6, Marco Sarchiapone7, Julio Bobes8, Doina Cosman9, Airi Värnik10, Franz Resch2, Danuta Wasserman4. 1. Clinic of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Center for Psychosocial Medicine, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany; Section for Translational Psychobiology in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Centre for Psychosocial Medicine, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany. Electronic address: michael.kaess@med.uni-heidelberg.de. 2. Clinic of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Center for Psychosocial Medicine, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany. 3. Section for Translational Psychobiology in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Centre for Psychosocial Medicine, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany. 4. National Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention of Mental Ill-Health (NASP), Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. 5. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York State Psychiatric Institute, Columbia University, New York, New York; Department of Health Sciences, University of Molise, Campobasso, Italy. 6. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York State Psychiatric Institute, Columbia University, New York, New York; Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, New York. 7. Department of Health Sciences, University of Molise, Campobasso, Italy. 8. Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, CIBERSAM, University of Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain. 9. Department of Clinical Psychology, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. 10. Estonian-Swedish Mental Health and Suicidology Institute (ERSI), Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia.
Abstract
PURPOSE: Increased Internet accessibility has been accompanied by an increased awareness of pathological Internet use (PIU). The aim of the study was to investigate a potential increase of PIU among European adolescents. METHODS: Comparable data from two large cross-sectional multicentre, school-based studies conducted in 2009/2010 and 2011/2012 in five European countries (Estonia, Germany, Italy, Romania, and Spain) were used. The Young's Diagnostic Questionnaire was used to assess the prevalence of PIU. RESULTS: The comparison of the two samples provides evidence that the prevalence of PIU is on the rise (4.01%-6.87%, odds ratio = 1.69, p < .001) except in Germany. Comparison with data on Internet accessibility suggests that the rise in prevalence of adolescent PIU may be a consequence of increased Internet accessibility. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings are the first data to confirm the rise of PIU among European adolescents. They definitively warrant further efforts in the implementation and evaluation of preventive interventions.
PURPOSE: Increased Internet accessibility has been accompanied by an increased awareness of pathological Internet use (PIU). The aim of the study was to investigate a potential increase of PIU among European adolescents. METHODS: Comparable data from two large cross-sectional multicentre, school-based studies conducted in 2009/2010 and 2011/2012 in five European countries (Estonia, Germany, Italy, Romania, and Spain) were used. The Young's Diagnostic Questionnaire was used to assess the prevalence of PIU. RESULTS: The comparison of the two samples provides evidence that the prevalence of PIU is on the rise (4.01%-6.87%, odds ratio = 1.69, p < .001) except in Germany. Comparison with data on Internet accessibility suggests that the rise in prevalence of adolescent PIU may be a consequence of increased Internet accessibility. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings are the first data to confirm the rise of PIU among European adolescents. They definitively warrant further efforts in the implementation and evaluation of preventive interventions.
Authors: John B Saunders; Wei Hao; Jiang Long; Daniel L King; Karl Mann; Mira Fauth-Bühler; Hans-Jürgen Rumpf; Henrietta Bowden-Jones; Afarin Rahimi-Movaghar; Thomas Chung; Elda Chan; Norharlina Bahar; Sophia Achab; Hae Kook Lee; Marc Potenza; Nancy Petry; Daniel Spritzer; Atul Ambekar; Jeffrey Derevensky; Mark D Griffiths; Halley M Pontes; Daria Kuss; Susumu Higuchi; Satoko Mihara; Sawitri Assangangkornchai; Manoj Sharma; Ahmad El Kashef; Patrick Ip; Michael Farrell; Emanuele Scafato; Natacha Carragher; Vladimir Poznyak Journal: J Behav Addict Date: 2017-08-17 Impact factor: 6.756
Authors: Camilla Wasserman; Vita Postuvan; Dana Herta; Miriam Iosue; Peeter Värnik; Vladimir Carli Journal: PLoS One Date: 2018-02-08 Impact factor: 3.240
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