Associations between depressive symptomatology and the report of unwanted Internet experiences among young, regular Internet users

Context. As the number of young people accessing the Internet continues to grow, so has the volume of public health research that examines the relationship between depressive symptomatology and duration of Internet use. Beyond simplistic exposure assessments however, little has been done to examine the online experiences young people have to determine whether young people with depressive symptomatology are at greater odds for negative experiences.;Objective. To analyze the association between youth-reported depressive symptomatology and the odds of also reporting negative online experiences, specifically Internet harassment and unwanted sexual solicitation.;Design. The Youth Internet Safety Survey (YISS) was a nationally representative, cross-sectional survey of Internet-using young people and one primary caregiver. Households were randomly selected as part of a two-stage telephone survey. It was conducted between fall 1999 and spring 2000. Eighty-two percent of contacted and eligible households participated.;Participants. Participants were between the ages of 10 and 17 (N = 1,501), have used the Internet at least three times in the previous three months, and were English speaking. The caregiver self-identified as the one most knowledgeable about the young person's Internet practices was also surveyed.;Results. The odds of reporting an unwanted sexual solicitation online in the previous year was more than three times as likely (OR: 3.53, CI: 2.19, 5.71) for young people who also reported DSM IV symptoms of major depression compared to young people who reported mild or no symptoms of depression. A similarly strong association was observed between the report of major depressive like symptomatology and the report of Internet harassment (OR: 3.38, CI: 1.78, 6.45).;When female and male respondents were assessed separately, the odds of reporting Internet harassment for males who also reported DSM IV symptoms of major depression were four times greater (OR: 4.33, CI: 1.32, 14.17) than for males who indicated mild or no symptoms of depression. Similarly, the odds of reporting an unwanted sexual solicitation were more than 3.5 times higher for males who indicated major depressive like symptomatology compared to asymptomatic peers (OR: 3.76, CI: 1.50, 9.42). Among otherwise similar females however, the association between reported depressive symptomatology and unwanted negative experiences online was largely explained by differences in Internet usage characteristics and other psychosocial challenge.;Conclusions. Among young, regular Internet users, those who report DSM IV-like depressive symptomatology are significantly more likely to also report being the target of Internet harassment, and to have indicated an unwanted sexual solicitation compared to young people that report mild or no symptoms of depression. Future studies should focus on establishing the temporality of events, that is, whether young people report depressive symptoms in response to the negative Internet experience, or whether symptomatology confers risk for later negative online incidents. Based on these cross-sectional results, gender differences in the odds of reporting an unwanted Internet experience are suggested, and deserve special attention in future studies.