Generalized and Specific Problematic Internet Use in Central Siberia Adolescents: A School-Based Study of Prevalence, Age–Sex Depending Content Structure, and Comorbidity with Psychosocial Problems

Neurobiological risk factors for problematic social media use as a specific form of Internet addiction: A narrative review

Problematic social media use (PSMU) is a behavioral addiction, a specific form of problematic Internet use associated with the uncontrolled use of social networks. It is typical mostly for modern adolescents and young adults, which are the first generations fully grown up in the era of total digitalization of society. The modern biopsychosocial model of the formation of behavioral addictions, postulating the impact of a large number of biological, psychological, and social factors on addictive behavior formation, may be quite applicable to PSMU. In this narrative review, we discussed neurobiological risk factors for Internet addiction with a focus on current evidence on the association between PSMU and structural/ functional characteristics of the brain and autonomic nervous system, neurochemical correlations, and genetic features. A review of the literature shows that the vast majority of the mentioned neurobiological studies were focused on computer games addiction and generalized Internet addiction (without taking into account the consumed content). Even though a certain number of neuroimaging studies have been conducted for PSMU, there is practically no research on neuropeptide and genetic associations for PSMU to date. This fact points to the extremely high relevance of such studies.

Association of Individual and Neighborhood Characteristics to Problematic Internet Use among Youths and Adolescents: Evidence from Vietnam

INTRODUCTION

This study aimed to determine latent profiles from the Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire Short Form-6 (PIUQ-SF-6) score of Vietnamese youths and adolescents, which supports the diagnosis of problematic internet use among a large sample size. Moreover, it also explored factors that affect each latent profile of the PIUQ-SF-6 score among participants.

METHODS

A sample of 1477 Vietnamese people, aged 14 to 24, across five provinces participated in the study. Multinomial logistic regression determined factors related to the levels of the Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire Short Form-6 (PIUQ-SF-6) after using latent profile analysis.

RESULTS

Participants were divided into three profiles, including those at low, moderate, and high risk of internet addiction. The high-risk latent profile was obtained for 23.1% of adolescents, and the remaining percentages were, respectively, 40.2% and 36.7% of adolescents belonging to the moderate and low-risk groups. Moreover, factors including age, living alone, high Kessler psychological distress scale, excessive time on the internet, living in central cities, and high neighborhood disorder scores were found to be related to moderate- and high-risk internet addiction profiles.

CONCLUSIONS

Factors analyzed according to individual and social characteristics further explore the reasons underlying increasing internet addiction among Vietnamese youths and inform early interventions.

Problematic Internet Use among Adolescents 18 Months after the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Studies in recent years and especially since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic have shown a significant increase in the problematic use of computer games and social media. Adolescents having difficulties in regulating their unpleasant emotions are especially prone to Problematic Internet Use (PIU), which is why emotion dysregulation has been considered a risk factor for PIU. The aim of the present study was to assess problematic internet use (PIU) in adolescents after the third wave (nearly 1.5 years after the onset in Europe) of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the German region of Siegen-Wittgenstein, all students 12 years and older from secondary-level schools, vocational schools and universities were offered a prioritized vaccination in August 2021 with an approved vaccine against COVID-19. In this context, the participants filled out the Short Compulsive Internet Use Scale (SCIUS) and two additional items to capture a possible change in digital media usage time and regulation of negative affect due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A multiple regression analysis was performed to identify predictors of PIU. The original sample consisted of 1477 participants, and after excluding invalid cases the final sample size amounted to 1268 adolescents aged 12-17 (x = 14.37 years, SD = 1.64). The average prevalence of PIU was 43.69%. Gender, age, digital media usage time and the intensity of negative emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic were all found to be significant predictors of PIU: female gender, increasing age, longer digital media usage time and higher intensity of negative emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic were associated with higher SCIUS total scores. This study found a very high prevalence of PIU among 12- to 17-year-olds for the period after the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has increased significantly compared to pre-pandemic prevalence rates. PIU is emerging as a serious problem among young people in the pandemic. Besides gender and age, pandemic-associated time of digital media use and emotion regulation have an impact on PIU, which provides starting points for preventive interventions.