Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Nov 24, 2024
Date Accepted: Apr 23, 2025
Excessive internet use time and internet addiction were associated with increased probability of physical-mental multimorbidity among Chinese adolescents: a cross-section study
ABSTRACT
Background:
The relationship between excessive internet use and physical-mental multimorbidity in adolescents remains unclear.
Objective:
To examine the relationship between excessive internet use and physical-mental multimorbidity among adolescents in China.
Methods:
A total of 5,842 students aged 13 to 18 years from Suzhou city in Eastern China were recruited. Four specific physical disorders and a mental disorder were considered to assess the physical-mental multimorbidity, i.e. obesity, hypertension, myopia, dental caries and depressive symptoms. Logistic regression models were employed to evaluate the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) between internet use time, internet additive (IA) behaviors and physical-mental multimorbidity. Mediation analyses were performed to explore potential factors by which exposures influence outcomes.
Results:
A total of 973 students (16.7%) exhibited physical-mental multimorbidity. Students with excessive internet use time (≥2 hours/day) was associated with a 55% higher risk of physical-mental multimorbidity, and diet score (16.3%) and substance abuse (12.7%) partially mediated the relationship. Students met 1 IA behavior (OR 2.44, 95% CI 2.00 - 2.98) or ≥2 IA behaviors (OR 5.80, 95% CI 4.90 - 6.86) were associated with higher rate of physical-mental multimorbidity, with sleep duration (2.3%), dietary scores (6.1%), and substance abuse (6.2%) partially mediated the association.
Conclusions:
Excessive internet use is associated with an increased risk of physical-mental multimorbidity among adolescents, underscoring the necessity of implementing interventions and regulations concerning adolescent internet use.
Citation
The author of this paper has made a PDF available, but requires the user to login, or create an account.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.