JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Suicide is one of the most important global public health issues in adolescents, while internet addiction is reported to be associated with a higher rate of suicide attempts in this population. However, few previous studies have explored the relationship between the severity of internet pathological use and suicide attempts in adolescents. Thus, this study aims to explore the relationship between different severity of internet pathological use and suicide attempts.

Objective:

A total of 782 students were enrolled in this study, all participants were asked to complete a questionnaire from November to December in 2020, and a 6-month follow-up.

Methods:

The demographic variables were collected by a self-designed questionnaire, depression - anxiety - stress scale(DASS-21) was used to evaluate the status of depression, anxiety, and stress. Revise Chinese internet addiction scale(CIAS-R) was used to estimate the symptoms and severity of Internet addiction. χ2 test and ANOVA was employed to compare group difference and logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association between different severity of internet pathological use and suicide attempts. Additionally, we used restricted cubic splines model to investigate the shape of the association.

Results:

We found that internet addiction exposure was associated with a significantly increased risk of suicide attempts (OR: 3.877(95%CI:1.704–8.819)). Adjustment for age, sex, nation, anxiety, depression, and stress still explained a significant association (OR: 2.647 (95%CI: 1.071–6.545)). The relation between internet addiction and suicide attempts was linear in restricted cubic spline regression.

Conclusions:

Internet addiction exposure was associated with an increased risk of suicide attempts, and this finding highlights the importance of addressing internet addiction symptoms among Chinese adolescents to better prevent suicidal behaviors.