Across a range of countries in Europe, using the Young Diagnostic Questionnaire for Internet Addiction yields a prevalence of 'pathological internet use' of 4.4% among adolescents, but varies by country and gender; adolescents lacking emotional and psychological support are at highest risk.

These results suggest high lifetime prevalence of D-SIB in European adolescents. Prevalence as well as psychosocial correlates seems to be significantly influenced by both gender and country. These results support the need for a multidimensional approach to better understand the development of SIB and facilitate culturally adapted prevention/intervention.

This meta-analysis addressed the differential effects of type of childhood maltreatment on major depression, partially explaining between-study variance. The findings clearly highlight the potential impact of the more "silent" types of childhood maltreatment (other than physical and sexual abuse) on the development of depression.

Objective: To determine the prevalence and the associated psychological and social factors of occasional and repetitive deliberate self-harming behavior in adolescents.Design: Cross-sectional self-report survey.Setting: One hundred twenty-one schools in Germany.Participants: A representative sample of 5759 ninthgrade students was studied between 2004 and 2005.Outcome Measures: Deliberate self-harm (DSH) and suicidal behaviors, emotional and behavioral problems (Youth Self-Report), living standard, family composition, parental conflict and illness, school type and performance, relationship to peers, bullying, body satisfaction and dieting, media consumption, smoking, and alcohol and drug use.Results: Occasional forms of DSH within the previous year were reported by 10.9% of the ninth-grade students. Four percent of the students reported repetitive forms of DSH. Suicidal behavior was strongly associated with repetitive DSH, an association that held for both subtypes of DSH. The findings also indicated that social background factors were important concomitants of occasional DSH but were not related to an increased likelihood of repetitive DSH. Symptoms of depression/anxiety and delinquent/aggressive behavior were associated with selfharming behavior in both adolescent girls and boys. Conclusions:The data suggest that there is a link between social factors and occasional DSH and, especially in repetitive DSH, that there is a strong association between DSH and suicidal behavior as well as DSH and emotional and behavioral problems. These findings indicate a different pathway in the development of DSH in adolescents. The results support a need to investigate the possible neurobiological underpinnings of DSH within a longitudinal model to enhance the knowledge of this poorly understood behavior.Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2007;161(7):641-649

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