Effect of pathological use of the internet on adolescent mental health: a prospective study.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the effect of pathological use of the Internet on the mental health, including anxiety and depression, of adolescents in China. It is hypothesized that pathological use of the Internet is detrimental to adolescents’ mental health.


METHODS
A prospective study with a randomly generated cohort from the population.


METHODS
High schools in Guangzhou, China.


METHODS
Adolescents aged between 13 and 18 years.


METHODS
Pathological use of the Internet was assessed using the Pathological Use of the Internet Test.


METHODS
Depression and anxiety were assessed by the Zung Depression and Anxiety Scales.


RESULTS
After adjusting for potential confounding factors, the relative risk of depression for those who used the Internet pathologically was about 21⁄2 times (incidence rate ratio,2.5;95%confidence interval,1.3-4.3) that of those who did not exhibit the targeted pathological internet use behaviors. No significant relationship between pathological use of the Internet and anxiety at follow-up was observed.


CONCLUSIONS
Results suggested that young people who are initially free of mental health problems but use the Internet pathologically could develop depression as a consequence. These results have direct implications for the prevention of mental illness in young people, particularly in developing countries.
Lam
Lawrence T
LT
School of Medicine, Sydney, and the University of Notre Dame, Fremantle, Australia. llam@nd.edu.au
Peng
Zi-Wen
ZW
D000293:Adolescent; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D016012:Poisson Distribution; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012306:Risk