Although young people spend increasing amounts of time online, many gaps remain in the literature regarding the effect of time spent online on young people's development of well-being. We focus on the influence of time spent online on feelings of self-reported (a) depression and (b) health of adolescents. We also consider the mediating role of digital skills and digital activities, each of which is broken down into five dimensions. We collected data through a two-wave longitudinal online survey among 3,942 adolescents aged 12-17 years in six European countries (first wave [W1] = 2021; second wave [W2] = 2022). We specifically want to understand how feelings of self-reported depression and health at W2 are affected by the time spent online at W1, and how digital skills and digital activities at W2 mediate these relationships. Findings indicate a significant increase in feelings of depression and a decrease in self-reported health between W1 and W2. Regarding digital skills, information navigation and communication and interaction were linked to greater well-being (lower depression and greater self-reported health). Regarding digital activities, the development of social relationships online was linked to lower self-reported depression and greater health, while frequently using the Internet to look up information on physical or mental health issues was strongly linked to greater depression and lower health. We discuss the implications of these findings for practice and policy on young people's well-being.

中文翻译：

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预测青少年自我报告的抑郁症和健康状况：数字技能和数字活动介导的上网时间。

尽管年轻人上网的时间越来越多，但有关上网时间对年轻人幸福感发展的影响的文献仍然存在许多空白。我们重点关注上网时间对青少年自我报告的 (a) 抑郁症和 (b) 健康状况的影响。我们还考虑了数字技能和数字活动的中介作用，每个维度都分为五个维度。我们通过对六个欧洲国家 3,942 名 12-17 岁青少年进行的两波纵向在线调查收集了数据（第一波 [W1] = 2021 年；第二波 [W2] = 2022 年）。我们特别想了解 W2 的自我报告抑郁情绪和健康状况如何受到 W1 上网时间的影响，以及 W2 的数字技能和数字活动如何调节这些关系。研究结果表明，在第 1 周和第 2 周之间，抑郁感显着增加，自我报告的健康状况下降。关于数字技能、信息导航、沟通和互动与更大的幸福感（降低抑郁症和改善自我报告的健康状况）相关。就数字活动而言，在线社交关系的发展与较低的自我报告抑郁症和更好的健康状况有关，而经常使用互联网查找有关身体或心理健康问题的信息则与更严重的抑郁症和较差的健康状况密切相关。我们讨论这些发现对年轻人福祉的实践和政策的影响。