Electronic Media Use and Symptoms of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Greek Adolescents.

Electronic media such as mobile phones, social media, computers, televisions, and video games are dominant in adolescents' lives. There is a growing concern that rising rates of electronic media use may be related to behavioral and emotional problems. The aim of the present study was to examine associations of adolescents' electronic media use with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms. Study participants were 99 adolescents (39 males, 60 females), 12-18 years old, as well as 93 parents (12 fathers and 81 mothers). Internet addiction was evaluated by the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) and behavioral/emotional problems by the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment. Parents reported on their adolescent's attention and hyperactivity problems on the ADHD Rating Scale-5. Electronic media used by the adolescents were computer (40.4%), tablet (44.4%), PlayStation (40.4%), Facebook (43.4%), whereas 72.7% had an account on social networks. They watched TV from 0 to over 4 h every day; specifically, 51.5% from 0 to 2 h, while only 1% over 4 h. Most of them (78.8%) used internet daily, 28.3% used internet about 6-10 h, and 24.2% used it over 20 h to watch videos on YouTube (20,2%), searched for school information (14,1%), connected with social media (13.1), played games (12.1%), looked for information on products and services (12.1%), etc. Eighty respondents (80.8%) were average internet users (IAT < 40), 19 (19.2%) had possible addiction (IAT 40-69), while no one (0%) had severe addiction (IAT ≥ 70). The Internet Αddiction scale was found to have statistically significant correlations with many of the subscales of the Achenbach questionnaire and the attention-deficit subscale of the ADHD questionnaire.Statistically significant positive correlations were found between possible internet addiction with rule-breaking behavior, problems like thought, externalization, behavioral, obsessive-compulsive behavior, and post-traumatic stress. Results suggest that misuse of electronic media may be related to ADHD traits among Greek adolescents. As rates of electronic media use among teenagers are increasing, these findings should be taken into account to protect the social, cognitive, and psychological health of adolescents. Effective interventions are needed to target specific types of electronic media use in adolescence.