Keywords
internet
contextual variables
adolescent
Spain
How to Cite
Abstract
The analysis of adolescent mental health is a current issue of international research interest. The purpose of this research was to analyze the mental health of Spanish children, assessed by the total difficulty score of The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), according to the time they remain connected to the internet and other contextual variables, such as the type of center, sex, school year and age. The methodology used was an ex post facto, cross-sectional study, with a sample of 430 students from Spain aged 12 to 17 years. Results show a significant association between the total score of difficulties in mental health with the amount of hours of internet use (χ2 = 10.2; p = 0.017) and age (χ2 = 11.86; p = 0.037). However, this association was not significant regarding the type of center (U = 20026, p = 0.418), gender (U = 18638, p = 0.082) and school year (χ2 = 1.62, p = 0.655). In conclusion, those adolescents who spent more than 5 hours per day using internet had higher scores in mental health difficulties. In the same way, adolescents aged 15 to 17 years had higher scores in mental health difficulties compared to the youngest ones (12 years old). Finally, the authors recommend to focus the prevention and mental health policies in minors who are in a late adolescent and spend more than 5 hours per day connected to internet.
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