Recurrent pain symptoms in adolescents with generalized and specific problematic Internet use: Associations analysis, confounding and mediating effects of comorbid psychosocial problems

Problematic Internet use (PIU) in adolescents is a global public health issue especially exacerbated by the restrictions caused by the COVID-19 epidemic. The authors assume a negative impact of PIU not only in relation to adolescents’ mental health and social behaviour but also relative to somatic components of their health, particularly concerning the occurrence of pain symptoms – recurrent headache (RH), recurrent abdominal pain (RAP), and recurrent back pain (RBP). The present study aims to identify the associations between different types of PIU (generalized PIU – PIUgen, problematic computer game use – PUgame, and problematic social media use – PUsocial), and pain symptoms (RH, RAP and RBP), and to determine the role of psychosocial factors in the emergence of these associations.
Methods: The research represents a one-stage observational study of 4,411 adolescents (53.6% girls; Mage = 14.53±1.52) in an unbiased school sample, held in three large cities of Central Siberia. The frequ..., Participants
The study is a one-stage observational survey of an unbiased school sample in three large cities in Central Siberia. The research object is represented by 12-18-year-old adolescents (n = 4,411) – students of 10 comprehensive schools in Krasnoyarsk, Russia (n = 2,843), 4 comprehensive schools in Abakan, Russia (n = 1,357) and 2 comprehensive schools in Kyzyl, Russia (n = 211).
Measurement
After obtaining informed consent from the parents and confirming the voluntariness of participation with the students, the researchers assured the latter of the confidentiality of the study. The students were asked to complete paper versions of self-report questionnaires within 45 minutes in a classroom setting. The survey was conducted in the spring of 2019. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Federal Research Centre “Krasnoyarsk Science Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences”.
Recurrent pain symptoms measurement
Adolescents were asked a number o..., , # Recurrent pain symptoms in adolescents with generalized and specific problematic Internet use: Associations analysis, confounding and mediating effects of comorbid psychosocial problems

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.1g1jwsv4z](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.1g1jwsv4z)

This dataset contains primary data from a survey of 4411 adolescents. The dataset contains demographic data, test data from the following questionnaires:

 - The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)

\- The Chen Internet Addiction Scale (CIAS)

\- The Game Addiction Scale for Adolescents (GASA)

\- The Social Media Disorder Scale (SMDS)

In addition, the dataset contains coded responses from adolescents regarding the frequency and intensity of recurrent pain symptoms: headache, abdominal pain, and back pain.

## Description of the data

Code: the unique code of the adolescent

Age_group: 1 - <= 14 years; 2 > 14 years

Sex: 1 - male; 2 - female

Ethnicity: Russians - 1; Tuvans - 2; Khakass - 3; Others - ...