Hoare Erin, Milton Karen, Foster Charlie, Allender Steven
School of Health and Social Development, Deakin University, 1 Gheringhap Street, Geelong, 3220, Australia.
Global Obesity Centre, Centre for Population Health Research, Deakin University, Victoria, Australia.
BMC Public Health. 2017 Apr 27;17(1):365. doi: 10.1186/s12889-017-4272-1.
There has been rapid increase in time spent using Internet as a platform for entertainment, socialising and information sourcing. This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between duration of time spent using Internet for leisure, depressive symptoms, and psychological distress among Australian adolescents.
Depressive symptoms were indicated by the youth self-report module from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Version IV criteria, and psychological distress was measured by Kessler Psychological Distress scale. Internet use was self-reported based on use on an average weekday, and an average weekend day. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to examine the relationship between Internet use and mental health outcomes. Models were adjusted for potential confounders: age; relative level of socio-economic disadvantage, and body mass index.
Adolescents were aged 11-17 years (M = 14.5 years, SD = 2.04 years). Greatest time spent using internet (≥7 h a day) was significantly associated with experiencing depressive symptoms among females (OR = 2.09, 95% CI = 1.16, 3.76, p < 0.05), and high/very high levels of psychological distress for male (OR = 2.23, 95% CI = 1.36, 3.65, p < 0.01) and female (OR = 2.38, 95% CI = 1.55, 3.67, p < 0.01) adolescents.
With current initiatives to improve health behaviours among adolescents to improve physical health outcomes such as overweight or obesity, it is imperative that the reciprocal relationship with mental health is known and included in such public health developments. Internet use may interact with mental health and therefore could be a modifiable risk factor to reach and improve mental health outcomes for this age group. Caution is advised in interpretation of findings, with some inconsistencies emerging from this evidence.
利用互联网作为娱乐、社交和信息获取平台的时间迅速增加。本研究旨在评估澳大利亚青少年将互联网用于休闲的时长、抑郁症状和心理困扰之间的关系。
抑郁症状由《精神疾病诊断与统计手册》第四版标准中的青少年自评模块来表明，心理困扰通过凯斯勒心理困扰量表进行测量。互联网使用情况是根据平均工作日和平均周末日的使用情况进行自我报告的。多元逻辑回归模型用于检验互联网使用与心理健康结果之间的关系。模型针对潜在混杂因素进行了调整：年龄；社会经济劣势的相对水平以及体重指数。
青少年年龄在11至17岁之间（均值 = 14.5岁，标准差 = 2.04岁）。使用互联网时间最长（每天≥7小时）与女性出现抑郁症状显著相关（比值比 = 2.09，95%置信区间 = 1.16，3.76，p < 0.05），与男性（比值比 = 2.23，95%置信区间 = 1.36，3.65，p < 0.01）和女性（比值比 = 2.38，95%置信区间 = 1.55，3.67，p < 0.01）青少年的高/非常高水平心理困扰显著相关。
鉴于当前为改善青少年健康行为以改善超重或肥胖等身体健康结果所采取的举措，了解并将与心理健康的相互关系纳入此类公共卫生发展至关重要。互联网使用可能与心理健康相互作用，因此可能是影响并改善该年龄组心理健康结果的一个可改变的风险因素。建议谨慎解读研究结果，因为该证据存在一些不一致之处。
