Internet Addiction Linked to Increased Self-Harm among Teens

Internet addiction has been found to double the normal levels of self-harm among high-school students, according to a new study. However, the researchers say it is not clear that the addiction led to self-injury, and that both behaviors may be symptoms of a deeper problem—a lack of self-control.

Nick Miller of Australia’s The Age writes that researchers from the University of Sydney and Notre Dame surveyed 1,618 students aged 13 to 18 in Guangzhou, China. About one in six students reported some form of self-injury in the previous six months such as hitting, burning, or cutting themselves.

Just over one in ten reported moderate or severe internet addiction: admitting to feeling depressed or moody when off-line, and fantasizing about the Internet when away from a computer.

When the results were compared, the researchers found that students were twice as likely to report high levels of self-harm (more than five episodes in the previous six months) if they also showed signs of Internet addiction.

There was a much less clear link between Internet addiction and an increase in lower levels of self-harm. The authors said self-injury was a complicated adolescent behavior that did not necessarily involve the intent to kill oneself.

Previous studies had noted a link between self-harm and other addictive behavior.
"In recent years, with the greater availability of the internet in most Asian countries, internet addiction has become an increasing mental problem among adolescents," the study authors wrote. "Many studies have reported associations between internet addiction, psychiatric symptoms and depression among adolescents."

The authors said their results suggested a "strong and significant" association between Internet addiction and self-injurious behavior in adolescence.

However, they warned it was too early to conclude that one could be caused by the other.
"Internet addiction and self-injurious behavior can both be considered as part of the spectrum of impulse control disorders," they wrote. "All these behaviors may be rooted in some common … factors that require further exploration."

The research, led by Dr. Lawrence Lam of the University of Sydney’s faculty of medicine, was published Dec. 2 in the journal Injury Prevention.