Internet Use Habits, Parental Control and Psychiatric Comorbidity in Young Subjects with Asperger Syndrome

Autism, Problematic Internet Use and Gaming Disorder: A Systematic Review

“…Shane-Simpson et al (2016) in their second of two studies did not find a significant difference between ASD and TD groups in relation to PIU levels, whereas MacMullin et al (2016) and Umeda et al (2019) found that individuals in the ASD group displayed heightened PIU symptoms. The remaining four studies found PIU prevalence rates of 10.8%, 45.5%, 8.9% and 38.3% among ASD samples, with an additional 5% of one sample defined as being internet addicts (Coskun et al, 2020;Kawabe et al, 2019;So et al, 2017;So et al, 2019). Although the results are contradictory to some degree, in answer to the research question, the results indicate that clinical ASD and PIU are related, and individuals with ASD tend to show higher rates of PIU.…”

“…Additionally, a Mann-Whitney U test showed no significant difference between groups in ALTs when groups were broken into problematic vs. normal internet users (Kawabe et al, 2019). The most recent study in the area reported that 38.3% and 5% of ASD participants (n = 60) were classified as problem internet users and internet addicts respectively (Coskun et al, 2020).…”

“…Autism Spectrum Disorder Seven of the eleven clinical studies recruited ASD participants from psychiatric, medical, rehabilitation, hospital or other outpatient centres with confirmed diagnoses from a psychiatrist, paediatrician or board-certified psychologist (Coskun et al, 2020;Engelhardt et al, 2017;Kawabe et al, 2019;Paulus et al, 2019;So et al, 2017;So et al, 2019). One study recruited ASD participants from the Interactive Autism Network, which involves families providing information on a child's ASD diagnosis and filling out the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) among other measures (Mazurek & Wenstrup, 2012).…”

“…Young's Internet Addiction Test (YIAT; Young, 1998) was utilised in eight of the studies (Coskun et al, 2020;De Vries et al, 2018;Kawabe et al, 2019;Romano et al, 2013;Romano et al, 2014;So et al, 2017;So et al, 2019;Truzoli et al, 2019). The YIAT is the most widely used IA measure in the world (Young, 2016) although this is more a function of its longevity.…”

“…Seven studies examined PIU symptoms in a clinical sample of individuals with ASD (Coskun et al, 2020;Kawabe et al, 2019;MacMullin et al, 2016;Shane-Simpson et al, 2016;So et al, 2017;So et al, 2019;Umeda et al, 2019). Shane-Simpson et al (2016) second study matched 33 ASD participants with 33 typically developing (TD) participants on the basis of gender, age, ethnicity and self-esteem scores.…”