Excessive Internet Use among Finnish Adolescents - Prevalence in 2017 - 2023 and Associations with Well-being

Objective This study aimed at analyzing changes in the prevalence of excessive internet use and to analyze its associations with mental and cognitive health problems among adolescents. Method We used repeated cross-sectional data from the School Health Promotion study, a population-based nationwide classroom survey in Finland. All adolescents in grades 8-11 were invited, with a total of 602,226 responses in 2017-2023. Excessive internet use was measured with the five-item Excessive Internet Use Scale covering core behavioral addiction symptoms. Depressive symptoms, generalized anxiety, and social anxiety were measured with validated questionnaires. Problems in cognitive functioning were assessed with one-item indicators. Analyses were done with Chi-square tests and logistic regression. Results From 2017 to 2023, the prevalence of excessive internet use increased, especially among girls. The increasing trend was significantly (p<0.001) steeper among girls, with the OR for time (in years) being 1.12 in grades 8-9 and 1.14 in grades 10-11, while among boys the corresponding ORs were 1.00 and 1.04, respectively. Excessive internet use associated with short sleep, depressive, generalized anxiety, and social anxiety symptoms (ORs between 1.73-2.42 in boys; 1.92-2.26 in girls; p<0.001) and with difficulties in tasks requiring reading, writing, and mathematics, and difficulties in concentrating (ORs 1.84-2.31 in boys; 1.83-1.98 in girls; p<0.001). Conclusion The prevalence of excessive internet use showed an increasing trend, especially among girls. The associations of excessive internet use with mental health symptoms and cognitive challenges were clear.