PITTSBURGH, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- More exposure to television and other electronic media during the teen years appears to be linked to depression symptoms later, U.S. researchers warn.
Dr. Brian A. Primack of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and colleagues used data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health to determine exposure to electronic media among 4,142 adolescents who were not depressed at the beginning of the study in 1995.
The teens were asked how many hours they had spent during the last week watching television or videocassettes, playing computer games or listening to the radio -- the survey was conducted before DVDs or the Internet became widely used.
The study, published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, reported an average of 5.68 hours of media exposure per day, including 2.3 hours of television, 0.62 hours of videocassettes, 0.41 hours of computer games and 2.34 hours of radio.
Seven years later, the participants were screened and 308, or 7.4 percent, had developed symptoms consistent with depression.
"In the fully adjusted models, participants had significantly greater odds of developing depression by follow-up for each hour of daily television viewed," the study authors said in a statement. "In addition, those reporting higher total media exposure had significantly greater odds of developing depression for each additional hour of daily use."
