Effects of Internet addiction on depression symptoms among adolescences in Jilin Province / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To explore the relationship between Internet addiction and depressive symptoms among adolescents, and to provide a scientific basis for preventing depression symptoms.@*Methods@#This study was conducted using a stratified random cluster sample method to select 2 149 junior school students reported Internet addiction and depressive symploms in Jilin Province. Propensity score method and quantile regression model were used to evaluate the association between Internet addiction and depressive symploms.@*Results@#Among the 2 149 participants, 386 (18.0%) were found Internet addictive. Prevalence of Internet addition differed significantly among students with different gender, grade, whether smoking or drinking, whether have corporal punishment from parents, sleep duration and body mass index (P<0.05). Depressive symptom scores differed in students with smoking, corporal punishment from parents and insufficient sleep duration (P<0.05). Quantile regression model found that with the quantile increasing, the risk of Internet addiction was also higher due to depressive symptoms(P<0.05). If Internet addiction occurred, their depressive symptom score would be improved 5.08 points for non-Internet addiction students.@*Conclusion@#Internet addiction shows potential impact on depression symptom students. The effect of Internet addiction increased with depression symptoms severity. The results of present study will provide a scientific basis for improving students mental health in the future.