A hidden type of internet addiction? Intense and addictive use of social networking sites in adolescents

Internet Gaming Disorder has been included as a preliminary diagnosis in DSM-5. The question remains, if there are additional internet activities related to addictive use. Especially, use of social networking sites has been discussed to be related to excessive use, but only few empirical studies are available. We wanted to explore, if use of social networking sites is related to addiction symptoms and psychosocial distress and which variables (demography, personality) predict addictive use. A representative sample of n?=?9173 adolescents (12-19 years) was enrolled. Self-report questionnaires assessed demography, frequency of social networking sites use, internet addiction, personality, and psychosocial distress. Gender-specific associations were found between frequency of use of social networking sites and addiction criteria, especially regarding preoccupation and loss of control. Adolescents using social networking sites intensely were more often classified with internet addiction (4.1% boys, 3.6% girls) and displayed higher psychosocial distress. Frequency of social networking sites use and its addictive use were predicted by similar variables except for extraversion that was only related to frequency of use. Since the intense use of social networking sites can be related to addictive symptoms and is accompanied by psychosocial distress it might be considered as another form of addictive online behavior. Intense use of social networking is correlated with criteria for internet addiction.The prevalence amounted to 4.1% (boys) and 3.6% (girls).Addictive use was related to higher psychosocial distress.Extraversion predicted frequency of SNS-use but not addictive SNS-use.

[1]  M. Griffiths,et al.  Internet and Gaming Addiction: A Systematic Literature Review of Neuroimaging Studies , 2012, Brain sciences.

[2]  R. R. Abidin.  Psychological Assessment Resources , 1995 .

[3]  Yufei Yuan,et al.  Online game addiction among adolescents: motivation and prevention factors , 2012, Eur. J. Inf. Syst..

[4]  Shannon M. Rauch,et al.  Face to Face Versus Facebook: Does Exposure to Social Networking Web Sites Augment or Attenuate Physiological Arousal Among the Socially Anxious? , 2014, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[5]  Kevin Wise,et al.  Emotional Responses During Social Information Seeking on Facebook , 2010, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[6]  S. Hwang,et al.  Internet addiction and psychiatric symptoms among Korean adolescents. , 2008, The Journal of school health.

[7]  Kai W. Müller,et al.  Prevalence of internet addiction in the general population: results from a German population-based survey , 2014, Behav. Inf. Technol..

[8]  K. Müller,et al.  Psychological Research and a Sociological Perspective on Problematic and Addictive Computer Game Use in Adolescence , 2013 .

[9]  M. Beutel,et al.  A contribution to the clinical characterization of Internet addiction in a sample of treatment seekers: validity of assessment, severity of psychopathology and type of co-morbidity. , 2014, Comprehensive psychiatry.

[10]  Erika Nyman-Carlsson,et al.  Eating Disorder Inventory-2 , 1991 .

[11]  M. Beutel,et al.  Regular gaming behavior and internet gaming disorder in European adolescents: results from a cross-national representative survey of prevalence, predictors, and psychopathological correlates , 2015, European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

[12]  K. Furu,et al.  Prescribing of Drugs for Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Opioid Maintenance Treatment Patients in Norway , 2013, European Addiction Research.

[13]  Catriona M. Morrison,et al.  The Relationship between Excessive Internet Use and Depression: A Questionnaire-Based Study of 1,319 Young People and Adults , 2010, Psychopathology.

[14]  M. Griffiths,et al.  The effect of type A personality on physiological arousal while playing computer games. , 1995, Addictive behaviors.

[15]  A. Rothenberger,et al.  [German version of the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ-German)--overview and evaluation of initial validation and normative results]. , 2003, Praxis der Kinderpsychologie und Kinderpsychiatrie.

[16]  M. Griffiths,et al.  Online Social Networking and Addiction—A Review of the Psychological Literature , 2011, International journal of environmental research and public health.

[17]  M. Beutel,et al.  Investigating Risk Factors for Internet Gaming Disorder: A Comparison of Patients with Addictive Gaming, Pathological Gamblers and Healthy Controls regarding the Big Five Personality Traits , 2013, European Addiction Research.

[18]  P. Costa,et al.  NEO inventories for the NEO Personality Inventory-3 (NEO-PI-3), NEO Five-Factor Inventory-3 (NEO-FFI-3), NEO Personality Inventory-Revised (NEO PI-R) : professional manual , 2010 .

[19]  N. Petry,et al.  Internet gaming disorder and the DSM-5. , 2013, Addiction.

[20]  E. Walker,et al.  Elevated social Internet use and schizotypal personality disorder in adolescents , 2007, Schizophrenia Research.

[21]  Katherine M. White,et al.  Psychological Predictors of Young Adults' Use of Social Networking Sites , 2009, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[22]  Ulrich John,et al.  Occurence of Internet Addiction in a General Population Sample: A Latent Class Analysis , 2013, European Addiction Research.

[23]  R. Goodman.  The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: a research note. , 1997, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[24]  Giuseppe Riva,et al.  Why Is Facebook So Successful? Psychophysiological Measures Describe a Core Flow State While Using Facebook , 2011, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[25]  Eleni C. Tzavela,et al.  Online social networking in adolescence: patterns of use in six European countries and links with psychosocial functioning. , 2014, The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine.

[26]  L. Brown,et al.  Shared brain vulnerabilities open the way for nonsubstance addictions: Carving addiction at a new joint? , 2010, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[27]  Klaus Wölfling,et al.  Reliabilität und Validität der Skala zum Computerspielverhalten (CSV-S) , 2010, Psychotherapie, Psychosomatik, medizinische Psychologie.

[28]  M. Beutel,et al.  Altered reward processing in pathological computer gamers – ERP-results from a semi-natural Gaming-Design , 2014, Brain and behavior.

[29]  C. Chan,et al.  Exploring personality characteristics of Chinese adolescents with internet-related addictive behaviors: trait differences for gaming addiction and social networking addiction. , 2015, Addictive behaviors.

[30]  C. Ko,et al.  Brain correlates of craving for online gaming under cue exposure in subjects with Internet gaming addiction and in remitted subjects , 2013, Addiction biology.

[31]  Larry D. Rosen,et al.  Is Facebook creating "iDisorders"? The link between clinical symptoms of psychiatric disorders and technology use, attitudes and anxiety , 2013, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[32]  Teresa Correa,et al.  Who interacts on the Web?: The intersection of users' personality and social media use , 2010, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[33]  Stephanie M. Reich,et al.  Online and Offline Social Networks: Use of Social Networking Sites by Emerging Adults , 2008 .

[34]  G. Murray,et al.  NEO Five-Factor Inventory Scores: Psychometric Properties in a Community Sample , 2003 .