Assessment of the Correlation between Problematic Internet Usage and Somatic Symptom Disorder in Adolescents

Objective Somatic symptom disorder is characterized as recurrent and multiple physical complaints and these symptoms cannot be medically explained despite of all examinations and therefore many adolescents admit to pediatrics clinics. In this study we aimed to investigate whether any association between problematic internet usage and somatic symptom disorder in adolescent who admitted to pediatrics clinic. Methods 287 adolescents diagnosed with somatic symptom disorder participated in the study. The patients were asked to fill in the sociodemographic information form, the International Physical Activity Questionnaire, the Internet Addiction Scale, and the Somatic Symptoms Scale. Data were collected by questionnaire and statistically analyzed. Results The mean age was 16.6 ± 1.3 and 32.4%male, 67.6% female. When internet addiction scores were compared for both genders, no statistically significant difference was found in social networking, chat, education/homework, and movie/music scores (respectively p = 0.485, p = 0.078, p = 0.695, p = 0.208). However, we found that either surfing news score ( p < 0.001) or gaming score (p < 0.001) was higher in male than females at subscales. The model we have established reveals that gender does not have a direct effect on internet addiction, but being female causes an indirect increase in internet addiction scores by increasing somatic symptoms. Conclusions There is a statistically significant correlation between the scores on the internet addiction scale and the presence of somatic symptoms in adolescents. Therefore, it may be possible to obtain good results from methods targeting somatic symptoms in intervention programs for adolescents with internet addiction.