Which health-related problems are associated with problematic video-gaming or social media use in adolescents? A large-scale cross-sectional study

Objective: Problematic video-gaming or social media use may seriously affect adolescents’ health status. However, it is not very well known which health-related problems are most strongly related to these issues. To inform the development of prevention and intervention strategies, this study aims to gain a better understanding of the healthrelated problems and demographical factors associated with problematic video-gaming or social media use in early adolescence. Method: A cross-sectional analysis was performed on data collected by two Municipal Health Services in the Netherlands in 2013-2014. In this survey among youth, 21,053 students from secondary schools (mean age 14.4 years) completed a web-based questionnaire. Multivariate analyses were carried out to assess the strength of the associations between mental health problems, life-events, lifestyle and substance use as independent variables, and problematic video-gaming and problematic social media use as dependent variables. Results: Of the participating students, 5.7% reported problematic video-gaming and 9.1% problematic social media use. Problematic video-gaming was most strongly associated with conduct problems, suicidal thoughts (all medium effect sizes, OR ≥2, p<0.01), sedentary behavior (large effect size, OR ≥3, p<0.01), and male gender (large effect size). Problematic social media use was highly associated with conduct problems, hyperactivity and sedentary behavior (all medium effect sizes). Additionally, female gender and non-Western ethnicity were relevant demographics (large and medium effect size). Conclusions: Most mental health problems were consistently associated with both problematic video-gaming and problematic social media use, though associations were only practically relevant for conduct problems (both groups), suicidal thoughts (problematic video-gaming) and hyperactivity (problematic social media use). This study also highlights sedentary behavior as health risk as it was associated with both problematic video-gaming and problematic social media use. Interventions for young problematic video-gamers or social media users should take into account mental health and physical activity.

"Of the participating students, 5.7% reported problematic video-gaming and 9.1% problematic social media use. Problematic video-gaming was most strongly associated with conduct problems, suicidal thoughts (all medium effect sizes, OR ≥2, p<0.01), sedentary behavior (large effect size, OR ≥3, p<0.01), and male gender (large effect size). Problematic social media use was highly associated with conduct problems, hyperactivity and sedentary behavior (all medium effect sizes). Additionally, female gender and non-Western ethnicity were relevant demographics (large and medium effect size)." (Mérelle et al., 2017, p. 11) "The present study showed that a substantial number of adolescents reported some (addictive) problems iwth video-gaming (5.7%) or social media use (9.1%). Our multivariate analyses yielded four main findings. First, most mental health problems were consistently associated with both problematic video-gaming and problematic social media use, though associations were only practically relevant for conduct problems (problematic video-gaming/social media use), suicidal thoughts (problematic video-gaming) and hyperactivity (problematic social media use). The second main finding is that problematic video-gaming or social media use were not significantly associated with life-events, and only weakly associated with substance use. Third, sedentary behavior was the only lifestyle factor that was strongly associated with problematic video-gaming or social media use. Lastly, gender was the most relevant demographical factor since boys were evidently at higher risk for problematic video-gaming and girls for problematic social media use." (Mérelle et al., 22017, p. 16)