Digital Technology Use and Adolescent Mental Health Before and During the Covid-19 Pandemic
The Roles of Internet Addiction and Digital Competence
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22004544 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sisi Tao (0000-0001-5953-4531, Education University of Hong Kong), Frank Reichert (0000-0003-0692-5082, Education University of Hong Kong, corresponding author), Nancy Law (0000-0003-3044-0528, Education University of Hong Kong), Nirmala Rao (0000-0002-5695-3156, Education University of Hong Kong) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue | 10 |
| Pages | 739-746 |
| Publication date | 2023-10-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Cyberpsychology Behavior and Social Networking (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2152-2715 • E-ISSN: 2152-2723 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1089/cyber.2023.0048 |
| PMID | 37782141 |
| OpenAlex | W4387241844 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 33 |
This study examined whether Internet addiction (IA) and digital competence (DC) mediated the association between digital technology use and mental health problems in adolescents before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, when digital device use increased dramatically. Repeated cross-sectional data from a 3-year cross-cohort study adopting stratified random sampling were analyzed. In 2019, 569 adolescents (female = 312) from 14 secondary schools completed a DC assessment and an online survey on their digital technology use, IA, and mental health. In 2021, 775 adolescents (female = 397) from 11 of those 14 schools completed both instruments. Results showed that adolescents in 2021 spent more time using digital devices, were more digitally competent, and reported more mental health problems than adolescents in 2019. The prevalence of IA was 8 percent in 2019 and 12.4 percent in 2021. In both years, more frequent digital technology use predicted a higher risk of IA, which was associated with more mental health problems (indirect β = 0.08, p < 0.001 for 2019 and β = 0.05, p < 0.001 for 2021). In addition, in 2021, DC was positively associated with digital technology use and negatively with IA, which indirectly related to fewer mental health problems (indirect β = -0.01, p = 0.03). In conclusion, DC is a protective factor alleviating the positive associations of digital technology use and IA with mental health problems in adolescents when the ecological context requires high levels of digital device use
Addiction · Behavioral addiction · Cohort · Cross-sectional study · Health care · Mental health · Pandemic · Political science · Psychiatry · Stratified sampling · Telemedicine · The Internet · Child Development and Digital Technology · Clinical Psychology · Computer Science · Education, Sociology, Communication Studies · Impact of Technology on Adolescents · Medicine · Psychology · Social Psychology · Internal Medicine
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| Citations per year | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Highly cited | No |