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Teenagers who are preoccupied with their Internet time may be more prone to aggressive behavior, researchers reported Monday. The findings do not prove that Internet addiction breeds violent behavior in children.

 

Published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, researchers with more than 9,400 Taiwanese teenagers found that those with signs of Internet "addiction" were more likely to say they had hit, shoved or threatened someone in the past year.

 

The Internet has previously been linked, at least to some extent, in teenage development. When Columbine High School was targeted by two teenagers some years ago, an online video game was in part to blame by many parents and survivors.

 

It is possible that violence-prone teenagers are more likely to obsessively use the Internet, explained lead researcher Dr. Chih-Hung Ko, of Kaohsiung Medical University in Taiwan.

 

Ko recommended that parents talk to their children about their Internet use and their general attitudes toward violence.

 

However, the findings add to evidence from other studies that media -- whether TV, movies or video games -- can influence children's behavior. The study suggests that parents should pay close attention to their teenagers' Internet use, and the potential effects on their real-life behavior, Ko told Reuters (News - Alert) Health.

 

According to Ko's team, some signs of Internet addiction include preoccupation with online activities; "withdrawal" symptoms, like moodiness and irritability, after a few Internet-free days; and skipping other activities to devote more time to online ones.

 

Online chatting, gambling and gaming, and spending time in online forums or adult pornography sites were all linked to aggressive behavior. In contrast, teens who devoted their time to online research and studying were less likely than their peers to be violence-prone, according to Reuters.

 

According to Ko, certain online activities may encourage kids to "release their anger" or otherwise be aggressive in ways they normally would not in the real world. Whether this eventually pushes them to be more aggressive in real life is not yet clear, the researcher said.