This study examined whether Internet addiction (IA) and digital competence (DC) mediated the association between digital technology use and mental health problems in adolescents before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, when digital device use increased dramatically. Repeated cross-sectional data from a 3-year cross-cohort study adopting stratified random sampling were analyzed. In 2019, 569 adolescents (female = 312) from 14 secondary schools completed a DC assessment and an online survey on their digital technology use, IA, and mental health. In 2021, 775 adolescents (female = 397) from 11 of those 14 schools completed both instruments. Results showed that adolescents in 2021 spent more time using digital devices, were more digitally competent, and reported more mental health problems than adolescents in 2019. The prevalence of IA was 8 percent in 2019 and 12.4 percent in 2021. In both years, more frequent digital technology use predicted a higher risk of IA, which was associated with more mental health problems (indirect β = 0.08, p < 0.001 for 2019 and β = 0.05, p < 0.001 for 2021). In addition, in 2021, DC was positively associated with digital technology use and negatively with IA, which indirectly related to fewer mental health problems (indirect β = -0.01, p = 0.03). In conclusion, DC is a protective factor alleviating the positive associations of digital technology use and IA with mental health problems in adolescents when the ecological context requires high levels of digital device use.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19 大流行之前和期间的数字技术使用和青少年心理健康：网络成瘾和数字能力的作用。

这项研究探讨了在 COVID-19 大流行之前和期间，当数字设备的使用急剧增加时，网络成瘾 (IA) 和数字能力 (DC) 是否介导了青少年数字技术使用与心理健康问题之间的关联。采用分层随机抽样的方式对一项为期 3 年的跨队列研究的重复横断面数据进行了分析。2019 年，来自 14 所中学的 569 名青少年（女性 = 312 名）完成了 DC 评估和关于数字技术使用、IA 和心理健康的在线调查。2021 年，这 14 所学校中 11 所的 775 名青少年（女性 = 397 名）完成了这两项考试。结果显示，与 2019 年的青少年相比，2021 年的青少年使用数字设备的时间更多，数字能力更强，报告的心理健康问题也更多。2019 年 IA 的患病率为 8%，2021 年为 12.4%。数字技术的使用预测 IA 风险较高，这与更多心理健康问题相关（2019 年间接 β = 0.08，p < 0.001，2021 年 β = 0.05，p < 0.001）。此外，2021 年，DC 与数字技术的使用呈正相关，与 IA 呈负相关，这与较少的心理健康问题间接相关（间接 β = -0.01，p = 0.03）。总之，当生态环境需要高水平的数字设备使用时，DC 是一种保护因素，可以减轻数字技术的使用和 IA 与青少年心理健康问题的正相关性。