Study on technology addiction in adolescents

24/10/2016

The research group Youth and Information and Communication Technologies (JOITIC) published an article recently in the scientific journal BMC Pediatrics which analyses the problematic use of internet, mobile phones and video games among secondary education students. The data was obtained through a study conducted at 28 schools in which 5,538 students aged 12 to 20 participated. The analysis determined that tobacco, excessive drinking, drugs, school failure and problems with the family are related to addictive behaviours with these technologies. In contrast, the role of the family is seen to be crucial in preventing these addictions.

The expansion of new technologies has represented positive changes in communication. Social relationships and access to information and entertainment, media channels, ways of working and learning have changed. Internet, social networks and mobile devices have produced a change in lifestyle which young people have grown up with and find completely normal. However, these changes have also brought about problems associated with inadequate or excessive use, especially among adolescents, who present problems with aggressiveness, anxiety, depression, sleep disorders and, in some cases, social isolation according to UAB researcher Raquel Muñoz, main researcher of the study, and nurse at the EAP Plaça Catalunya in Manresa, belonging to the Catalan Health Institute's Territorial Management of Central Catalonia.

The study was conducted during the 2010/11 academic year, through a questionnaire on the use of the internet, mobiles and video games. It was given to 5,538 secondary school students enrolled in the government's "Health and School" programme in the cities of Sabadell, Castellar del Vallès, Sant Quirze del Vallès, Sentmenat, Polinyà, Palau-solità i Plegamans and Santa Perpètua de Mogoda. Students anonymously answered a sociodemographic questionnaire (which includes information on extracurricular activities, school performance, consumption of toxic substances, family relationships, uses of ICTs and parental control), as well as three questionnaires specifically focused on experiences related to the internet (CERI), the use of mobile phones (CERM) and video games (CERV).

A Few Results
At the time of the study, problematic use of the internet reached 13.6%, of mobile phones, 2.4%, and of video games, 6.2%. "The evolution of ICTs was at that moment in its starting phases. Today we would probably see a whole different picture, since mobile phones now have access to the internet, allow interacting with social networks and online games, and their use is completely generalised among adolescents. The role they play now is much more significant", says Raquel Muñoz, researcher at the UAB and at the Northern Metropolitan Research Support Unit of the IDIAP Jordi Gol.

With regard to the problematic use of the internet, data reveals that it is more frequent among girls (17% vs. 10.6%) and that those with problems with the internet also are in more risk of school failure (18.6% vs. 12.3%). In addition, the researchers have identified certain patterns of use which are related with the fact of that there is more risk of problems, participation in chats (18.9 vs. 8.2%), social networks (15.1% vs. 5.3%), online shopping (19.1% vs. 13.2%) and an intense use of three hours or more per day (35.8% vs. 7.5%). According to the study, girls and boys who participated in after-school activities and received support from their parents showed less problematic use.

With regard to mobile phone data, the problems are also more frequent among girls and activities that caused addiction are chats (34.5% vs. 15.3%), games (25.9% vs. 15.6%) and text messaging (21.6% vs. 10.7%).


The problematic use of video games is more frequent among boys (10.6% vs. 1.4%) and also among those with school failure (10.4 vs. 5.1%). It is also linked to an intense usage [more than five hours per week (26.1% vs 3.2%)]. Moreover, playing alone is related to having 66% more problems.


Taking into account the data of the study, the factors related it problematic use, risk of addictive behaviour and a rapid increase among adolescents in accessibility to new technologies, researchers conclude that "interventions when young are necessary with the aim of building a healthy relationship between adolescents and information and communication technologies".


The JOITIC research group is formed by researchers from the IDIAP, some of whom are primary healthcare nursing and medical professionals from the Catalan Health Institute, education centre lecturers, researchers from the departments of Nursing and of Basic, Developmental and Educational Psychology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and a psychologist from Ramon Llull University.

Original article:
Muñoz-Miralles R, Ortega-González R, López-Morón MR, Batalla-Martínez C, Manresa JM, Montellà-Jordana N, Chamarro A, Carbonell X, Torán-Monserrat P. "The Problematic Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Adolescents by the Cross Sectional JOITIC Study". BMC Pediatr. 2016 Aug 22;16(1):140. doi: 10.1186/s12887-016-0674-y. PubMed PMID: 27550020; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4994264. Available: http://bmcpediatr.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12887-016-0674-y/open-peer-review