Correlation of Indicators Regarding Problematic Internet Use, Physical Activity, and Psychological Health of High School Students

Abstract

With the rise of Internet use and availability, the extent of problematic Internet use (PIU) among high school students is also increasing. The prevention and treatment of this disorder are not clear and raise many questions. The results of studies conducted in other countries show that physical activity (PA) can reduce the prevalence of PIU among adolescents and influence their mental health. The pilot study described in this paper evaluated relationships between PIU, PA, sedentary time (ST) and psychological distress (PD) among Lithuanian high school students.

The question arises – what are the correlations between problematic Internet use, physical activity, and psychological health among high school students?

The object of work – the relationships between problematic Internet use, physical activity, sedentary time, and psychological distress mong students in the 9th-12th grade of two Lithuanian high schools.

The aim of the work – is to assess the correlations between problematic Internet use, physical activity, sedentary time, and psychological distress indicators among 9th-12th grade students.

The goals: 1. To estimate levels of problematic Internet use, psychological distress, physical ctivity, and sedentary time difference between genders and all age groups of high school students. 2. To assess the correlation between problematic Internet use, psychological distress and physical activity among high school students. 3. To evaluate correlation between problematic Internet use, sedentary time and psychological distress.

Conclusions: 1. Girls are less physically active, spend more time sitting, and experience more psychological distress compared to boys. Internet use does not differ between genders. Age is not associated with problematic Internet use, psychological distress, physical activity, and sedentary time.2. Only a third of the high school students reached the recommended by World Health Organization level of physical activity. Time spent sitting per day averaged from 7.5 to 8.5 hours for boys and girls. The more physically active students engaged in less problematic Internet use and had lower psychological distress while the more sedentary students exhibited more problematic Internet use and had higher psychological distress. 3. Almost half of the students who were recognized as having highly problematic Internet use also expressed a high level of psychological distress.

Keywords: problematic Internet use, moderately-high physical activity, psychological distress.