Depression among Adolescents: The Role of Internet Addiction and Sex

Abstract

Excessive use of the internet among adolescents has been associated with many mental health problems including depression. The study investigated the depression of adolescents with high internet addiction and adolescents with low internet addiction as well as those of boys and girls. The study adopted a 2 (adolescents with high internet addiction versus adolescents with low internet addiction) x 2 (adolescent boys versus adolescent girls) factorial design. Two hundred and forty participants (124 adolescents with low internet addiction and 116 adolescents with high internet addiction) out of four hundred participants were purposively selected from different high schools and +2 colleges of Cuttack and Khurdha districts of Odisha, India. The participants of all four groups (adolescent boys with high internet addiction, adolescent boys with low internet addiction, adolescent girls with high internet addiction and adolescent girls with low internet addiction) were compared with respect to their level of depression. The results indicated that adolescents with high internet addiction were more depressed than the adolescents with low internet addiction. Adolescent girls were found to be more depressed as compared to adolescent boys.