Use of addictive screen linked to poor mental health in pre -adolescents

The addictive use of social media, video games or mobile phones, but not total screen time, is associated with good mental health among pre -adolescents, revealed a new study carried out by researchers from Columbia and Cornell.

The study, published on June 18 Jamaexamined the use of social media of nearly 4,300 children, from 8 years old, and how the use has changed over the next four years.

The addictive use of the excessive use of screens which interfered with school work, responsibilities at home or other activities was common, and the varied models of use depending on the type of screen and over time. For mobile phones, around half of the children reported high addictive use from the start of the study which remained high at the start of adolescence, and around 25% developed an increasingly addictive use as they age. For social media, around 40% of children had high or increasingly addictive use. Unlike social media and mobile phones, the use of video games has only followed two high and low trajectories a distinct “croissant” group over time.

High and increasingly addictive screen use was associated with good mental health (for example, anxiety, depression or aggression) and suicidal behaviors and thoughts.

“These children want such use that they find it difficult to reduce. Psychiatry And Radiology At the Columbia University Vacelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and the New York State Psychiatric Institute and one of the senior leaders of the study.

While national surveys and previous studies have documented growing screen use, our study is the first to specifically map the longitudinal trajectories of addictive use, offering new perspectives at the time and for which the risks emerge. Politics efforts should move away from the generic limits of screen time and rather focus on identifying and combating addictive models for using the screen. “”

Yunyu Xiao, PHD, the first author and leader, deputy professor of health and psychiatry sciences at Weill Cornell Medicine

Children entering adolescence must also be assessed several times for addictive use. “If you do not follow children over time, you would miss this substantial group that goes from low risk to higher risk,” explains Mann.

Background

The growing use of social media, video games and mobile phones in children and adolescents has feared that excessive use contributes to an increase in mental health problems in young people.

Most research has focused on the total time of the screen, rather than the nature of the screen time or how this use can change over time.

Study details

The new study – The first to characterize the trajectories of addictive use for social media, mobile phones and video games among children in children in the cognitive development of the adolescent brains.

The researchers analyzed the data collected over four years on the mental health of young people; Use of social media, mobile phones and video games; And their agreement with various declarations on screen use (for example, I play video games so that I can forget my problems “and” I feel the need to use more and more social media applications “).

Based on the participants’ agreement with such declarations, the researchers identified several models of addictive use and examined the relationship between these addictive models and mental health.

Section of screen and mental health

Overall, around 5% of nearly 4,300 study participants presented suicidal behavior (preparatory actions for suicide attempts) during the fourth year of the study, and that was the result used to assess the impact of addictive screen use or total screen time.

For social media and mobile phones, children with high or increasingly addictive models of use presented a risk of suicidal behavior of two to three times higher and suicidal ideas compared to children with a low -consumption diagram.

Total screen time was not associated with results related to suicide or mental health.

Following steps

This study indicates that the interventions that focus on using the addictive screen can be more promising as a prevention approach and do not support prevention by focusing on the total screen time.

“Now that we know that an addictive use scheme is so important, we must develop intervention strategies and test them in controlled clinical trials,” explains Mann, who adds that it is not known if access to the screen must be eliminated or simply limited. “We know through the management of drug addiction that partial access can quickly strengthen dependence.”