Mental Health
Internet Habits, Problematic Internet Use, and Online Risk Practices Among Adolescents With ADHD in Spain.
Open Access: Yes.
Abstract
Background: In recent years, there has been growing scientific concern about digital habits, online risk practices and problematic internet use (PIU) among adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This exploratory study aims to compare: (1) internet use habits; (2) PIU; and (3) online risk practices (i.e., active and passive sexting, sextortion, pornography consumption, online gambling, and contact with strangers) among adolescents with and without ADHD.
Method: A school-based sample of 4,359 adolescents aged 12-18 years old (M = 14.79, SD = 1.79; 51.1% girls; 5.9% ADHD) was assessed (intentional sampling).
Results: The results indicated that adolescents with ADHD had different Internet and video game use habits, as well as a significantly higher rate of PIU compared to their peers without ADHD (25.8% vs. 18%). They also had a higher rate of sextortion, online gambling, and pornography use. In addition, significant gender differences of particular interest were observed.
Conclusions: These findings underline the need to address the particularities of adolescents with ADHD and their environment in order to promote safer use of the technology.
Relevance
According to this study, “girls with ADHD showed increased susceptibility to risky online behaviours, including earlier access to smartphones, more frequent late-night internet use, a higher engagement in social media activities, and higher rates of passive sexting and pornography consumption.”
“Although other studies have suggested that pornography consumption and passive sexting are more prevalent among adolescents and young people with ADHD” – e.g., Niazof et al. (2019), which is in the Culture Reframed library – “in the present study, only girls with ADHD exhibited a significantly higher prevalence of these risky practices compared to their peers, even reversing the typical gender pattern in the case of passive sexting.” These findings align with prior research linking ADHD symptoms to other risky sexual behaviors among young women. An explanation for this pattern that pornography and other risky behaviors are used by individuals with ADHD for ‘mood regulation’ (as per Privara & Bob, 2023, which is in the Culture Reframed library). But “these findings warrant special attention, as children and adolescents with ADHD are particularly vulnerable to addiction problems related to the excessive consumption of pornography…However, it should also be mentioned that in comparisons between children with and without ADHD, the effect sizes found were very small, which should temper the findings, given the complexity of the phenomenon under study.”
Citation
Isorna, M., Liñares, D., Gómez, P., Villanueva-Blasco, V. J., & Rial-Boubeta, A. (2026). Internet Habits, Problematic Internet Use, and Online Risk Practices Among Adolescents With ADHD in Spain. Psicothema, 38(2), 91–100. https://doi.org/10.70478/psicothema.2026.38.09
