From canvas to gym, over one in five teens is at risk for addiction



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The prevalence of Italian adolescents with substance abuse risk behaviors and not only is high: more than 22% of young people attending high school have a dysfunctional relationship with the Web . These are the data that emerge from a study conducted at "A. Gemini" IRCCS – Catholic University of the Sacred Heart and published in the prestigious journal "Frontiers in Psychiatry"

The research was conducted by Dr. Marco Di Nicola and coordinated by Professor Luigi Janiri of the Gemini Complex Operational Unit and the Institute of Psychiatry and Psychology of the Catholic University and also shows a relationship between problematic use Internet and a worse academic performance, as well as some of the personality traits and psychological characteristics already badociated with the risk of developing mental disorders.

boys attending high school (240 men and 756 women, with an average age of about 16 years) badessed through specific questionnaires to investigate socio-demographic characteristics, Habit of smoking, consumption of alcohol and other psychoactive substances, academic performance and behavior at risk of addiction (use of the Internet, games or play, physical exercise )

"Frequent use of alcohol and substance use is very common among men," says Dr. Di Nicola, "but compared to the past, the differences between the bades are less in less obvious, especially with regard to cannabinoids and drinking bouts. "

Problematic Use of the Internet was found in 22.1% of young people without differences between men and women. "This phenomenon", explains the expert "was evaluated with an interview and with specific tests that explore the impact of the use of the Internet on everyday life (school, work, family and relational relationships, duration and quality of sleep, etc.) and the degree of discomfort that young people experience when they can not access the web in the desired way.This is a very maladaptive behavior (with significant repercussions on the general functioning of the subject) even if one can not yet speak of a true "dependence."

In addition, 9.7% of adolescents evaluated described problems gambling, with a high risk of developing a pathological gambling condition.Males report this behavior more frequently than women (29.9% vs. 3.7%) .But yet, 6.2% of the sample reported exercising excessively (in this case the degree of im sports activities, the negative impact on daily functioning and interpersonal relations was evaluated. as well as mood when subjects can not train as they wish.)

Dependence behaviors studied by both substance and behavior were badociated with reduced school performance : the more serious the boy's problem is, his performance, says Dr. Di Nicola. Finally, personality traits and psychological characteristics such as inability to feel pleasure, impulsiveness, difficulty recognizing and describing one's emotions and the tendency to dissociate are correlated with the risk of addictive behaviors. .

we have witnessed, among young Italians, the lowering of the age of first contact with the substances of abuse, the increase of polyammuso, behaviors such as drinking and Drunkoressia (food restriction before consuming alcohol, both to limit caloric intake and avoid weight gain, and to reinforce the euphoric effects and disinhibitors of alcohol ), as well as the problematic use of the Internet and games (mostly online), with an increased risk of developing age. pathological addictions of adults and mental disorders ", concludes Professor Janiri

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