Internet Use Habits, Parental Control and Psychiatric Comorbidity in Young Subjects with Asperger Syndrome.
Parental screen limits and depression screening each lower Internet-addiction risk in youth with Asperger.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Coskun et al. (2020) gave an online survey to young people with Asperger syndrome. They asked about Internet use, parental rules, and mood.
The survey measured how much the Internet got in the way of daily life. It also asked about depression and anxiety symptoms.
What they found
About four in ten youth scored high for problematic Internet use. Kids with tighter parental control scored lower.
Depression symptoms went hand-in-hand with higher Internet-use scores. Anxiety showed the same pattern.
How this fits with other research
van Timmeren et al. (2016) surveyed youth with ASD and found similar heavy screen use. They added a neurotypical group and saw the same gap Murat found.
Lugnegård et al. (2011) showed 70% of adults with Asperger had faced major depression. Murat now links that mood risk to screen habits.
Mattila et al. (2010) saw 74% psychiatric comorbidity in kids with AS/HFA. Murat narrows the focus to how depression feeds Internet problems.
Why it matters
If you work with teens or young adults with Asperger, treat heavy Internet use as a red flag for mood issues. Ask parents to set clear screen rules and track mood each week. A quick parent-youth agreement on Wi-Fi shut-off times can cut both screen hours and depressive complaints.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
We aimed to investigate the characteristics of internet use in a clinical sample of 60 young subjects with Asperger Syndrome (AS) and its relationship with parental control and psychiatric comorbidity. Of the participants, 38.3% were classified as having problematic internet use (PIU). Subjects with normal internet use (NIU), compared to the subjects with PIU, had significantly higher scores on parental control scale. While there was no significant difference in terms of any comorbid diagnoses between subjects with NIU versus PIU, severity of depressive symptoms was found to predict higher scores on Young Internet Addiction Scale (YIAS). In conclusion, PIU may be common in AS and may be associated with internalizing problems, while parental control may protect against it.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2020 · doi:10.1007/s10803-019-04243-2