Excessive Internet Use Tied to More Absences for Teens

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Excessive internet use is associated with an increased risk for unexcused and medical absences from school among teenagers, according to a study published in Archives of Disease in Childhood. Silja Kosola, MD, PhD, and colleagues evaluated the associations of excessive internet use, short sleep duration, and low physical activity (PA) with unexcused and medical absences among 86,270 participants (mean age, 15.3 years). The researchers found that 34.7% of participants slept less than 8 hours per night during the school week, and 34.3% reported low PA (ie, less than 3 days per week with a minimum of 1 hour of PA per day). There were associations for excessive Internet use, short sleep, and low PA with both unexcused absences and medical absences. Good parental relations showed the strongest protective association with unexcused and medical absences. “This has important implications for both the promotion of general health and the support offered to students with alarming school absences,” Dr. Kosola and colleagues wrote.