Abnormal brain activity in adolescents with Internet addiction who attempt suicide: an assessment using functional magnetic resonance imaging

The influence of physical activity on internet addiction among Chinese college students: the mediating role of self-esteem and the moderating role of gender

OBJECTIVES

The significance of self-esteem in the relationship between physical activity and Internet addiction among college students cannot be over, as it lays a solid foundation for the prevention and control of Internet addiction.

METHODS

A total of 950 college students were surveyed using the Physical Activity Rating Scale (PARS-3), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (SES), and Chinese Internet Addiction Scale (CIAS-R) through a cluster random sampling method. Descriptive statistics, independent sample t-test, partial correlation analysis, mediation effect, moderation effect, and Bootstrap testing were conducted on the collected data to analyze and interpret the results.

RESULTS

(1) Significant gender differences were found in the amount of physical activity and the degree of Internet addiction among college students(P&& lt;0.001); (2) Physical activity was significantly and positively correlated with self-esteem (r = 0.26, P < 0.001), but significantly and negatively correlated with Internet addiction (r=-0.23, P < 0.001); Meanwhile, self-esteem and Internet addiction were significantly and negatively related to self-esteem (r=-0.22, P < 0.001). (3) Mediating effect analyses showed that self-esteem played a partial mediating role in physical activity and Internet addiction among college students, accounting for a portion of 78.95%. (4) A moderating effect of gender on the relationship between physical activity and Internet addiction was discovered.

CONCLUSION

The physical activity level of male students is significantly higher than that of female students, while the degree of internet addiction among female students is notably higher than that of male students. Physical activity can not only directly improve the issue of internet addiction among college students, but also indirectly improve it through self-esteem, with gender playing a moderating role in this process. This conclusion has practical reference significance for preventing and controlling internet addiction among college students, and provides evidence support for using physical activity as a reference solution in clinical applications. Additionally, it suggests that gender should be taken into account when preventing and intervening in internet addiction among college students, and different strategies and methods should be adopted for male and female students. Male students should be encouraged to participate more in physical activities, gradually increasing the frequency, duration, and intensity of their participation, in order to divert their attention and enhance their sense of achievement in sports, thereby reducing their use of mobile phones. For female students, on the other hand, it is important to strengthen real-life communication, change the form of sports participation, engage in group, collaborative, and different situational sports activities, and enhance their focus and attention in sports, in order to reduce their internet dependency, better guide them to use the internet reasonably, and enable them to achieve emotional release through sports.

The relationship between childhood trauma and internet addiction in adolescents: A meta-analysis

Objective

Many studies have explored the relationship between childhood trauma and internet addiction from different theoretical perspectives; however, the results have been inconsistent. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to examine the relationship between childhood trauma and internet addiction.

Methods

The PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, CNKI, Wanfang and VIP electronic databases were searched to identify studies examining the correlation between childhood trauma and adolescent internet addiction. The databases were searched from inception to December 31, 2022. Two researchers independently screened the literature, extracted the data, and evaluated the risk of bias of the included studies. Then, Stata 17.0 software was used to perform meta-analysis.

Results

This study was registered on PROSPERO (CRD42023388699). A total of 19 studies involving 21,398 adolescents were included in this meta-analysis. The random effects model was used for pooled analysis, and the results revealed a strong positive association between childhood trauma and internet addiction (r = 0.395, 95% CI [0.345, 0.442]). The relationship between childhood trauma and internet addiction was moderated by sample size, survey area, and internet addiction measurement tools. There were significant differences between the associations based on the various child trauma measurement tools and study quality scores. However, interstudy heterogeneity was not significantly affected by study year, sample source, or participant age.

Conclusion

Internet addiction is positively correlated with childhood trauma. Therefore, it is extremely important for parents to provide a good growth environment during childhood to enhance the physical and mental development of adolescents. A warm family atmosphere helps individuals develop a healthy personality, thereby reducing or preventing the occurrence of internet addiction. Due to the limited number and low quality of the included studies, the above conclusions need to be verified by additional high-quality studies.

The Influence of Childhood Trauma and Family Functioning on Internet Addiction in Adolescents: A Chain-Mediated Model Analysis

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to examine the prevalence of Internet addiction in adolescents, analyze the associations of childhood trauma, systematic family dynamics, and family functioning with Internet addiction, and investigate the mediating chain role of anxiety and depression in the relationship of childhood trauma and family functioning with adolescent Internet addiction.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional study in which general sociodemographic data were obtained from 3357 adolescents in grades 6-12 who were assessed using psychometric instruments such as the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, Young Internet Addiction Test, Systematic Family Dynamics Self-Rating Scale (SSFD), Family Functioning Assessment (FAD), Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), and Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS).

RESULTS

(1) The prevalence of Internet addiction among adolescents was 26.09% (876/3357). The prevalence of childhood trauma was 54.96% (1845/3357), and the prevalence of Internet addiction was significantly different between adolescents who suffered childhood trauma and those who did not (χ² = 96.801, ν = 1, p = 0.000). (2) Childhood trauma and various dimensions of systematic family dynamics had a significant negative and positive relationship with poor family functioning and anxiety or depression, respectively. (3) Childhood trauma was a positive predictor of Internet addiction through the chain-mediated effect of anxiety and depression, but there were no direct effects. Poor family functioning was a positive predictor of adolescent Internet addiction, and this positive prediction was augmented by the chain-mediated effect of anxiety and depression.

CONCLUSIONS

Childhood trauma and poor family functioning or support predicted Internet addiction in adolescents, with anxiety and depression as mediators.

Sex differences in association between Internet addiction and aggression among adolescents aged 12 to 18 in mainland of China

BACKGROUND

Previous studies have reported that Internet addiction (IA) is an important predictor of aggression. However, little is known whether aggression is a risk factor of IA. This study aims to explore whether IA can predict total and sub-types of aggression, whether aggression also can predict IA, and the potential sex difference.

METHOD

A total of 15,977 adolescents aged 12 to 18 were recruited though a stratified cluster sampling across five representative provinces in mainland of China. Young's Internet Addiction Test (IAT) and Buss and Warren's Aggression Questionnaire (BWAQ) were used to measure IA and aggression, respectively.

RESULTS

The prevalence of IA and total aggression was 16.8 % and 25.0 %, respectively. Binary logistic regression analysis indicated that IAT score was significantly associated with total and five sub-types of aggression (P < 0.001). However, scores of physical aggression, hostility, and indirect aggression were positively associated with IA (P < 0.001), while verbal aggression and anger were not significant (P > 0.05). Moreover, the interaction of sex and IA was significant for aggression. Specifically, females with IA had higher risks of anger and indirect aggression but had lower risks of physical and verbal aggression compared to males with IA.

LIMITATIONS

Cross-sectional design, self-reported information, and only Chinese rural adolescents.

CONCLUSIONS

IA is a strong risk factor of total and five sub-types of aggression, while not all sub-types of aggression are predictors of IA. Prevention programs for adolescents' IA and aggression should consider different aggression sub-types and sex.

Abnormal characterization of dynamic functional connectivity in Alzheimer's disease

Numerous studies have shown abnormal brain functional connectivity in individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) or amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). However, most studies examined traditional resting state functional connections, ignoring the instantaneous connection mode of the whole brain. In this case-control study, we used a new method called dynamic functional connectivity (DFC) to look for abnormalities in patients with AD and aMCI. We calculated dynamic functional connectivity strength from functional magnetic resonance imaging data for each participant, and then used a support vector machine to classify AD patients and normal controls. Finally, we highlighted brain regions and brain networks that made the largest contributions to the classification. We found differences in dynamic function connectivity strength in the left precuneus, default mode network, and dorsal attention network among normal controls, aMCI patients, and AD patients. These abnormalities are potential imaging markers for the early diagnosis of AD.

A Resting State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study of Unmedicated Adolescents With Non-suicidal Self-Injury Behaviors: Evidence From the Amplitude of Low-Frequency Fluctuation and Regional Homogeneity Indicator

BACKGROUND

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) behaviors are common in adolescents with major depressive disorder (MDD). Brain studies specifically targeting adolescents with MDD and NSSI may provide new insights into suicide warnings in adolescents with MDD.

METHODS

This study examined the whole-brain neural activity in adolescents aged between 12-17 years, 50 unmedicated MDD patients with (nsMDDs) or without NSSI (nnsMDDs), and 25 healthy controls (HCs) participated in this study, and analyzed the correlation between the values of amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF), fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF) and regional homogeneity (ReHo) in significantly different brain regions and the scores of the relevant clinical psychological scale.

RESULTS

Compared with nnsMDDs, nsMDDs had enhanced ALFF values in left middle occipital gyrus and left median cingulate and paracingulate gyri; the fALFF values of the right caudate nucleus was weakened in the nsMDDs; the ReHo values of right middle occipital gyrus and right middle temporal gyrus weakened and the ReHo values of right medial cingulate gyrus enhanced in nsMDDs. And all of differences were statistically significant. In nsMDDs, the value of ALFF in the left calcarine fissure and surrounding cortex was negatively correlated with the score of Children's depression Inventory (CDI); the value of fALFF in the right caudate nucleus was positively correlated with the score of Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideations (BSSI); the value of ReHo in the right middle temporal gyrus was positively correlated with the score of Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC); and the value of ReHo in the right median cingulate and paracingulate gyri was negatively correlated with the score of BSSI.

CONCLUSIONS

We found that in ALFF, fALFF and ReHo, the significant differences between nsMDDs and nnsMDDs are mainly located in default mode network (DMN) and visual network (VN), and there may be brain regions related to NSSI in DMN and VN. The significant differences brain regions in ALFF, fALFF and ReHo between nsMDDs and nnsMDDs were related to the total score of the relevant clinical psychological scale, and may be related to NSSI.

Neuropsychological Correlates of Internet Addiction

The Internet, mobile phones, and other similar tools are often necessary for the current functioning of both private life and business. During these two years of pandemic (2019-2021), Internet use, especially different games and mobile phones, were indispensable for the global population. Internet addiction is defined as a psychological dependence on the internet, regardless of the type of activity once logged on. Many studies have confirmed the correlation of stress, depression, and anxiety with internet addiction. It has also been proven that internet addiction, per se, increases the risk of depression, anxiety, and stress. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has generated and promoted social isolation along with unmonitored and increased screen time, all of which are the main causes of internet addiction. The aim of this article is to give a short review of internet addiction research, terminology, and symptoms related to brain functioning. The source material was articles cited in the database, PubMed. Our interest was especially oriented towards the personality characteristics of users and addicted persons as well as neuroimage findings among affected people. We selected the newest articles, published in the period of 2012-2021, of which there are more than 2000. The selected obtained results will be presented and discussed.

Survivors of COVID-19 exhibit altered amplitudes of low frequency fluctuation in the brain: a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study at 1-year follow-up

Although some short-term follow-up studies have found that individuals recovering from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) exhibit anxiety, depression, and altered brain microstructure, their long-term physical problems, neuropsychiatric sequelae, and changes in brain function remain unknown. This observational cohort study collected 1-year follow-up data from 22 patients who had been hospitalized with COVID-19 (8 males and 11 females, aged 54.2 ± 8.7 years). Fatigue and myalgia were persistent symptoms at the 1-year follow-up. The resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging revealed that compared with 29 healthy controls (7 males and 18 females, aged 50.5 ± 11.6 years), COVID-19 survivors had greatly increased amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) values in the left precentral gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus of operculum, inferior frontal gyrus of triangle, insula, hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, fusiform gyrus, postcentral gyrus, inferior parietal angular gyrus, supramarginal gyrus, angular gyrus, thalamus, middle temporal gyrus, inferior temporal gyrus, caudate, and putamen. ALFF values in the left caudate of the COVID-19 survivors were positively correlated with their Athens Insomnia Scale scores, and those in the left precentral gyrus were positively correlated with neutrophil count during hospitalization. The long-term follow-up results suggest that the ALFF in brain regions related to mood and sleep regulation were altered in COVID-19 survivors. This can help us understand the neurobiological mechanisms of COVID-19-related neuropsychiatric sequelae. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University (approval No. 2020S004) on March 19, 2020.

Predictors of Nutritional Status, Depression, Internet Addiction, Facebook Addiction, and Tobacco Smoking Among Women With Eating Disorders in Spain

Eating disorders (EDs) are a complex group of psychiatric conditions that involve dysfunctional eating patterns, nutritional alterations, and other comorbid psychopathologies. Some women with EDs may develop problematic internet use while they attempt to get information on dieting/weight control or get online support from people with similar problems. They may also drift toward tobacco smoking as a method to regulate their weight or to cope with their weight-related dysphoria. The occurrence of these conditions in EDs may prolong disease course and impede recovery. This study used structural equation modeling to investigate nutritional status (noted by body mass index, BMI), depression psychopathology, internet addiction (depicted by the Internet Addiction Test), Facebook addiction (depicted by the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale), and smoking among 123 Spanish women diagnosed with EDs (mean age = 27.3 ± 10.6 years). History of hospitalization, marital status, age, and the level of education predicted BMI in certain ED groups. BMI did not predict depression, but it predicted internet addiction, Facebook addiction, and smoking in certain ED groups. Depression did not predict BMI, internet/Facebook addition, or smoking in any ED group. Some sociodemographic and clinical variables had indirect effects on depression, internet addiction, and Facebook addiction while age was the only variable expressing a direct effect on all outcome measures. Age, education, and history of prolonged treatment predicted smoking in certain ED patients. The findings signify that a considerable target for interventional strategies addressing nutritional and addictive problems in EDs would be women with high BMI, history of hospitalization, history of prolonged treatment, who are particularly young, single, and less educated. Replication studies in larger samples, which comprise various subtypes of EDs from both genders, are warranted to define the exact interaction among the addressed variables.

The Six-Item Version of the Internet Addiction Test: Its Development, Psychometric Properties, and Measurement Invariance among Women with Eating Disorders and Healthy School and University Students

Internet addiction (IA) is widespread, comorbid with other conditions, and commonly undetected, which may impede recovery. The Internet Addiction Test (IAT) is widely used to evaluate IA among healthy respondents, with less agreement on its dimensional structure. This study investigated the factor structure, invariance, predictive validity, criterion validity, and reliability of the IAT among Spanish women with eating disorders (EDs, N = 123), Chinese school children (N = 1072), and Malay/Chinese university students (N = 1119). In school children, four factors with eigen values > 1 explained 50.2% of the variance, with several items cross-loading on more than two factors and three items failing to load on any factor. Among 19 tested models, CFA revealed excellent fit of a unidimensional six-item IAT among ED women and university students (χ2(7) = 8.695, 35.038; p = 0.275, 0.001; CFI = 0.998, 981; TLI = 0.996, 0.960; RMSEA = 0.045, 0.060; SRMR = 0.0096, 0.0241). It was perfectly invariant across genders, academic grades, majors, internet use activities, nationalities (Malay vs. Chinese), and Malay/Chinese female university students vs. Spanish women with anorexia nervosa, albeit it was variant at the scalar level in tests involving other EDs, signifying increased tendency for IA in pathological overeating. The six-item IAT correlated with the effects of internet use on academic performance at a greater level than the original IAT (r = -0.106, p < 0.01 vs. r = -0.78, p < 0.05), indicating superior criterion validity. The six-item IAT is a robust and brief measure of IA in healthy and diseased individuals from different cultures.

Characteristics of interpersonal conflicts preceding youth suicide: analysis of data from the 2017 National Violent Death Reporting System

BACKGROUND

Deaths by suicide among US adolescents aged 10 to 19 increased by more than 85% between 2007 and 2017. Interpersonal conflicts with peers or family members, in combination with biological, psychological, and cognitive attributes of adolescents, are among risk factors. More insight about contextual factors, including timing of conflicts relative to suicide, would be useful for professionals and programmers.

METHOD

We used data from the 2017 National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) reflecting most cases in 37 US states to explore contextual circumstances in adolescent death by suicide preceded by interpersonal conflicts. We calculated descriptive statistics and conducted content analysis of narratives to identify attributes of 197 cases.

RESULTS

Most deaths by suicide (n = 155) occurred within 24 hr of the conflict; most conflicts involved the adolescent and family members (n = 138). When subject matter was described, most conflicts (n = 27) focused on concerns with an adolescent's behavior. Nearly a quarter of cases (n = 49) involved technology, including technology restrictions as punishment, as either a primary or additional aspect of the conflict.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings provide support for prior research suggesting links between technology and mental health concerns, including suicidality, among adolescents. While previous works have identified both positive and negative aspects of the use of technology by adolescents, our findings suggest that restriction of technology as a punishment may be an additional contextual factor of interest in a proportion of youth suicides preceded by an argument. Given ongoing regular use of technology, practitioners should address these potential risk factors regardless of risk status.

New Methods for Assessing Rapid Changes in Suicide Risk

Rapid-acting interventions for the suicide crisis have the potential to transform treatment. In addition, recent innovations in suicide research methods may similarly expand our understanding of the psychological and neurobiological correlates of suicidal thoughts and behaviors. This review discusses the limitations and challenges associated with current methods of suicide risk assessment and presents new techniques currently being developed to measure rapid changes in suicidal thoughts and behavior. These novel assessment strategies include ecological momentary assessment, digital phenotyping, cognitive and implicit bias metrics, and neuroimaging paradigms and analysis methodologies to identify neural circuits associated with suicide risk. This review is intended to both describe the current state of our ability to assess rapid changes in suicide risk as well as to explore future directions for clinical, neurobiological, and computational markers research in suicide-focused clinical trials.

Relationship between internet addiction and mental health in adolescents

BACKGROUND

Internet addiction (IA) currently is the major public health concern, especially in adolescents, although the results of previous reports are not generally uniform. This study was conducted to determine IA in adolescents and to examine the correlation of IA with mental health in adolescents.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2019 in Ilam city. In this study, 362 persons were included using stratified cluster sampling; clusters were geographical area and schools. The valid questionnaires including Internet Addiction Test and 28-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) were used to interview. The correlation statistical technique was used to determine the association between the two variables. The significance level was considered <0.05.

RESULTS

The mean ± standard deviation age of the responders was 16.40 ± 2.47 years; the total score of IA and mental health was 43.02 ± 16.50 and 19.27 ± 9.72, respectively. We found that 5.5% of the adolescents had a severe level of IA. The lack of control with anxiety, neglect work and social dysfunction, and neglect social life and severe depression in internet users were found to be statistically significant: r (365) = 0.151, P < 0.033; r (365) = 0.126, P < 0.021; and r (365) = 0.125, P < 0.033, two-tailed, respectively.

CONCLUSION

According to the results, the excessive use of internet, lack of control, and neglect social life are significantly correlated with mental health in adolescents; these results could be contribute to improve the theoretical models for IA in adolescents.