Effects of screen time and internet addiction on social anxiety among adolescents in a district of Chongqing

Yu-Jie WANG; Qin LIU; Yuan-Ke ZHOU; Wen-Yi WU; Xuan XI; Qin ZHANG; Zong-Wei HE; Jie LUO; Yu TIAN

doi:10.12173/j.issn.1004-5511.202304013

Abstract：Objective To investigate the effects of adolescent screen time and Internet addiction on social anxiety,and to provide scientific guidance for improving the current situation of adolescent social anxiety.Methods Data for this study were derived from cross-sectional data from an ongoing adolescent development cohort,the Social Anxiety Scale revised by Scheier and Carver,the Internet Addiction Diagnostic Questionnaire and self-designed questionnaire were used to investigate adolescents in a district of Chongqing,and multiple linear regression analysis was used to explore the risk factors affecting adolescent's social anxiety.Results A total of 719 adolescents were included,of whom 334(46.5%)were boys and 385(53.5%)were girls.The mean score of social anxiety of the respondents was 7.96±4.28,32.0%of the adolescents had an average daily screen time>2h,and 2.5%of the adolescents were detected as Internet addiction.Univariate analysis showed that there were statistically significant differences in adolescents'social anxiety scores among different genders,school stages,average daily screen time,and Internet addiction(P<0.05).Multivariate regression analysis showed that the average daily screen time>2 hours[β=0.829,95%CI(0.133,1.525),P=0.020]is a risk factor for social anxiety in adolescents.In addition,the risk of social anxiety in girls[β=0.854,95%CI(0.226,1.482),P=0.008]was significantly higher than that in boys.Conclusion In order to reduce the risk of social anxiety among adolescents,effective measures should be taken to reduce their average daily screen time,and more attention should be paid to teenage girls'social anxiety.