Predictors of Spontaneous Remission of Problematic Internet Use in Adolescence: A One-Year Follow-Up Study

Abstract

Problematic use of the Internet is becoming increasingly important and especially for adolescents, high prevalence rates are reported in many countries. Despite the growing international research activities and the reported prevalence estimates, comparatively very few studies have focused on spontaneous remission and its possible causes. In a risk population of 272 adolescents, we used standardized diagnostic instruments to investigate which socio-demographic and psychosocial characteristics at baseline (at t1) predicted spontaneous remission of problematic Internet use one year later (at t2). The predictors were determined by bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. In the bivariate regressions, we found male gender, higher self-efficacy (t1), a lower level of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies (t1), lower depression (t1), lower performance and school anxiety (t1), lower social-interaction anxiety (t1), and lower procrastination (t1) to predict spontaneous remission of problematic Internet use at t2. In the multivariable analysis, a lower level of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies (t1) was the sole statistically significant predictor for the remission one year later (t2). For the first time, the high relevance of emotion regulation for spontaneous remission of adolescent problematic Internet use was observed. Based on these findings, emotion regulation could be specifically trained and promoted in future prevention measures.

The role of inhibitory control and decision-making in the course of Internet gaming disorder

“…Over the three assessment time points of our study, we found strong evidence for an overall decrease in time spent on gaming and IGD severity. This is in line with previous studies showing a high rate of spontaneous remission in the natural course of IGD and raises the important question of which factors contribute to the course of IGD (Ko, Yen, Yen, Lin, & Yang, 2007;Lau, Wu, Gross, Cheng, & Lau, 2017;Wartberg & Lindenberg, 2020). In line with our hypothesis, we found evidence that a lower general inhibitory control is predictively associated with more time spent on gaming one year later, but there was weak or no evidence that inhibitory control is associated with the past or current gaming time or IGD severity.…”

Assessing ICD-11 Gaming Disorder in Adolescent Gamers: Development and Validation of the Gaming Disorder Scale for Adolescents (GADIS-A)

“…Another indication for the meaningfulness of a differentiation between negative consequences and cognitive-behavioral gaming symptoms comes from the high rate of spontaneous remission of media-addiction symptoms-up to 76% within one year [60][61][62]. Spontaneous remission will be more likely when impairments due to gaming are not present or not severe.…”

Relationship between Difficulty in Emotion Regulation and Internet Addiction in College Students: A One-Year Prospective Study

“…A study on Hong Kong Chinese secondary school students found the one-year remission rate of IA was 59.29/100 person-years [ 47 ]. A study on German adolescents found that the one-year remission rate of IA was 71.6% [ 48 ]. The results of the present and previous studies indicated that incidence of remission was high without noticeable interventions during adolescence and adulthood.…”