Abstract
The COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown have been associated with multiple consequences for mental health, including an excessive and potentially harmful increase in screen media use. The specific consequences for children, adolescents and young adults with ADHD are still unknown. In the first part of this study, a short review of problematic use of the internet (PUI) in ADHD is presented, showing that patients with ADHD are at risk for different aspects of PUI, such as excessive gaming or problematic social media use. In the second part, we report original data of an online survey on screen media use before, during and after the lockdown completed by parents of children and adolescents clinically referred for ADHD. Parents rated children’s/adolescents’ media-related behavior and media time on a new screening questionnaire for PUI. Each item was rated three times, referring to the observed behavior before, during and 1–2 months after the lockdown. N = 126 parents of patients referred for ADHD aged 10–18 years participated in the study. Total media time increased by 46% during the lockdown and did not completely return to pre-Corona levels afterwards. Patients with difficulties concentrating, high irritability or deterioration of ADHD problems under lockdown spent more time with screen media than those with milder or no such problems. While the effects of the lockdown on screen media use and its negative impact on everyday life appear to be largely reversible, a small proportion of patients with ADHD apparently continue to show increased media use.
Highlights
The COVID-19 pandemic is occurring in a new technological and social context, with an apparently endless and immediate access to the internet (Chen et al 2020; Guessoum et al 2020; Moreno et al 2020)
The present sample of N = 126 patients referred for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) to the Department of child and adolescent psychiatry (CAPP) is drawn from a larger sample of patients with all types of psychopathologies, whose parents responded to the survey
Girls were underrepresented in this sample with a ratio of 1:3, which is approximately representative of the ADHD gender distribution in a clinically referred population at this age
Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic is occurring in a new technological and social context, with an apparently endless and immediate access to the internet (Chen et al 2020; Guessoum et al 2020; Moreno et al 2020). An Australian study reported increased media usage (gaming, TV, social media) along with positive and negative life style changes under lockdown for children and adolescents with ADHD (Sciberras et al 2020). To which extent these changes may be permanent or transitory after the release of measures has not been investigated before. In the second part of this publication, a survey with parents of patients referred for ADHD to child and adolescent psychiatry will be presented In this survey, started after the spring lockdown 2020, we asked about changes in media time and problematic internet behaviors before, during and after the lockdown
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