Associations between emotional and attentional problem characteristics and problematic internet use patterns: a prospective cohort study

While most people use the Internet in a balanced and responsible way, some individuals develop problematic internet behaviour that can have severe, harmful consequences. This type of behaviour is strongly linked to attentional and emotional problems. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between problematic internet use patterns, and attentional and emotional problems. The present study was based on the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 (NFBC1986; original N = 9432, 4865 males). Participants reported at two-time points (between the years 2000–2001 and 2019–2020) factors associated with internet activities and with attentional and emotional tendencies of adolescents and adults. Diagnoses of depression, anxiety, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were gathered from Finnish nationwide registers. Results indicated that participants with depression were found to have a significantly higher risk of more elevated levels of PIU including general internet use and gaming after controlling for several confounding factors. Furthermore, cross-directional associations were found between higher degrees of general anxiety symptoms and ADHD characteristics, and all forms of PIU including general internet use, gaming, and social network use. Future studies should aim to further establish the course of development of PIU-related variables with the temporal order of the potential causal relations.