Internet Access and Youth’s Mental Health and Well-being

Thi Trang Pham and Pui Hang Wong
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Thi Trang Pham: RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research, Mt Economic Research Inst on Innov/Techn

No 2025-007, MERIT Working Papers from United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT)

Abstract: This paper provides one of the first robust evidence on the impact of internet access on adolescents’ well-being and mental health in a low-income country context. We find reduced subjective well-being and increased measures of mental health disorders among young people in Ethiopia during 2020-2021 following internet diffusion. Our heterogeneity analysis reveals that the effects of internet access on mental health are unequal, with stronger negative impacts for adolescents from lower-wealth households. The mechanism analysis suggests that passive internet use, particularly among youth from less advantaged socioeconomic backgrounds, might drive these negative outcomes. To address potential endogeneity, we employ instrumental variable techniques combined with fixed effects. The instrument is relevant based on network effect arguments and reasonably exogenous conditional on control variables and fixed effects. Our results offer policy implications regarding internet access and youth human capital development in the digital age and highlight the significance of social causes in shaping mental health.

JEL-codes: I14 J13 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-02-18
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hap, nep-hea and nep-ict
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:unm:unumer:2025007

DOI: 10.53330/GYMA8538

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