Internet time tied to teen depression symptoms

Spending time online is normal behavior for teenagers. But too much Internet use by teens -- or too little, for that matter -- might be related to depression, a new study finds.

The findings, reported in the journal of Pediatrics, do not mean that the Internet is to blame. For one, teens in the study who spent no time online were also at increased risk of depression symptoms.

Instead, the researchers say that both heavy Internet use, and non-use, could serve as signals that a teenager is having a hard time.

For the study, Dr. Pierre-Andre Michaud and colleagues at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, surveyed 7,200 individuals ages 16 to 20 about their Internet use.

Those who were online more than two hours per day were considered "heavy" Internet users, while those online anywhere from several times per week to two hours per day were considered "regular" users.

The teenagers also answered a number of health-related questions, including some standard questions about "depressive tendencies" that gauge how often a person feels sad or hopeless.

Compared with regular Internet users, the study found, kids who were heavy users or non-users were more likely to be depressed or very depressed.

Among male teens, heavy users and non-users were both around one-third more likely to have a high depression score, compared to "regular" users. Among girls, heavy Internet users had an 86 percent greater chance of depression, while non-users had a 46 percent greater likelihood compared to regular users.

That was with factors like family income and any chronic health problems taken into account.

However, the average depression scores among non-users, regular users and heavy users alike were all toward the lower end -- between 1 and 2 on a scale of 1 to 4, with 1 being "not depressed at all."

Since teenagers typically go online to connect with friends, the researchers speculate that those who are never online may be more socially isolated.

(Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

青少年抑郁癥或與上網時間有關

雖然上網對于青少年來說是很正常的行為，但是一項新調查發現，上網時間過長或者過短可能會導致抑郁。

這項發表在《兒科學》雜志上的研究并不是說網絡該為抑郁癥負責，因為在接受調查的人群中，那些不上網的青少年出現抑郁癥狀的幾率也增加了。

事實上，研究人員稱青少年上網時間過長和不上網都表明這個孩子過得不好。

在研究中，皮埃爾•安德烈•米肖博士和他在瑞士洛桑大學的同事一起，調查了7200名年齡在16歲到20歲之間的青少年的上網情況。

那些每天上網時間超過兩小時的人被視為“過度上網者”，而那些上網時間介于“每周幾次”到“每天兩小時”的人則被視為“正常上網者”。

這些青少年還回答了一些和健康相關的問題，其中包括一些和“抑郁傾向”有關的常規問題，這些問題可測算出一個人感到憂傷或絕望的頻繁程度。

研究發現，跟“正常上網者”相比，過度上網和不上網的孩子更容易感到“抑郁”或“很抑郁”。

就男孩而言，過度上網和不上網的人抑郁分值高的可能性都比正常上網者高約三分之一。而女孩當中過度上網者患抑郁癥的可能性比正常上網者高86%，不上網者比正常上網者高46%。

這一研究將家庭收入、慢性病等因素都考慮在內。

不過，不論是不上網者、正常上網者還是過度上網者，他們的平均抑郁分值都較低——都在1到2分之間。抑郁程度有1分到4分四個等級，1分表示“一點都不抑郁”。

一般來說，青少年上網是為了與朋友們聯系，因此研究人員推測，那些從來不上網的青少年可能更自閉。