Core symptoms and symptom relationships of problematic internet use across early, middle, and late adolescence: A network analysis

Advances in problematic usage of the internet research – A narrative review by experts from the European network for problematic usage of the internet

“…differ by age or developmental stages, such as secrecy of internet use, empty life, sleep, failure to stop, feeling depressed), with theoretical implications for preventative interventions. Specifically, it is hypothesized that providing adolescents and their caregivers with psychoeducation on the roles of these symptoms to facilitate nonconflictual conversations, may potentially prevent the development and/or maintenance of PUI in vulnerable adolescents and promote more healthy internet use [279,280]. While there is no fully agreed-upon first-line psychotherapy for all forms of PUI, the evidence base has been growing [211][212][213].…”

Problematic Internet use and academic engagement during the COVID-19 lockdown: The indirect effects of depression, anxiety, and insomnia in early, middle, and late adolescence

“…Given that adolescence marks a period of rapid and profound changes in biological functioning and social contexts ( Dahl et al, 2018 ), understanding age-related differences and processes in psychological and behavioral characteristics are necessary. According to the previous studies examining the entire span of adolescence ( Liu et al, 2022 ), adolescence can be divided into three stages: early (10–12 years old), middle (13–15 years old), and late (16–18 years old).…”

Gender differences in symptom structure of adolescent problematic internet use: A network analysis

“…We assessed PIU symptoms using the 26-item Chinese Internet Addiction Scale-Revised which has achieved high split-half reliability, test-retest reliability, and convergent validity and are widely used in Chinese adolescents [ 4 , 22 ]. The scale comprises five symptom clusters: compulsive use, withdrawal symptoms, tolerance symptoms, interpersonal and health problems, and time-management problems.…”

“…First, research on gender differences in PIU has been largely based on latent variable model [ 20 ]. Such a latent model assumes that a mental disorder is a latent variable that causes its symptoms, which may obscure the associations among symptoms [ 21 , 22 ]. To overcome these shortcomings, network theorists propose that disorders composed of heterogeneous symptoms should be conceptualized as systems of causally connected symptoms [ 20 ].…”