The Prevalence of Internet Addiction Among a Japanese Adolescent Psychiatric Clinic Sample With Autism Spectrum Disorder and/or Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Doctors at a Tokyo psychiatric clinic asked 132 teens with autism, ADHD, or both how they use the internet.

They used a short checklist to see who met the cut-off for internet addiction.

About 1 in 10 teens with autism only scored positive.

Roughly 1 in 8 teens with ADHD only scored positive.

When teens had both autism and ADHD, the rate doubled to 1 in 5.

So et al. (2019) followed the same kids for two years. Most of the addicted teens no longer met the cut-off, showing the problem often fades on its own.

Kawabe et al. (2019) zoomed in on the autism-only group. They found higher ADHD symptom scores, not the autism label itself, predicted internet addiction.

Eltantawy et al. (2026) saw a much higher 45 % gaming-addiction rate in Saudi youth with autism. The gap likely comes from different tools and wider age ranges, not a true country difference.

Screen teens with both autism and ADHD first—they carry the highest risk. Use a brief questionnaire; it takes one minute. If the score is high, reassure families that many teens improve within two years without fancy treatment. Pair the screen with a quick check for ADHD symptoms in autism-only clients, since those scores drive risk more than the autism label itself.