People who spend a lot of time surfing the internet are more likely to show signs of depression, British scientists said on Wednesday.

英国科学家于上周三称，经常上网的人出现抑郁症状的可能性更大。

People who spend a lot of time surfing the internet are more likely to show signs of depression, British scientists said on Wednesday.

But it is not clear whether the internet causes depression or whether depressed¹ people are drawn² to it.

Psychologists（心理学家） from Leeds University found what they said was "striking" evidence that some avid³（渴望的，贪婪的） net users develop compulsive（强迫的，强制的） internet habits in which they replace real-life social interaction（社会互动） with online chat rooms and social networking sites.

"This study reinforces the public speculation⁴ that over-engaging in websites that serve to replace normal social function might be linked to psychological disorders⁵ like depression and addiction," the study's lead author, Catriona Morrison, wrote in the journal Psychopathology（精神病理学） .

"This type of addictive⁶（上瘾的） surfing can have a serious impact on mental health."

In the first large-scale study of Western young people to look at this issue, the researchers analyzed⁷ internet use and depression levels of 1,319 Britons aged⁸ between 16 and 51.

Of these, 1.2 percent were "internet addicted⁹", they concluded.

These "internet addicts¹⁰" spent proportionately（相称地，成比例地） more time browsing¹¹ sexually gratifying（令人满足的） websites, online gaming sites and online communities, Morrison said. They also had a higher incidence of moderate（适度的，中等的） to severe depression than normal users.

"Excessive internet use is associated with depression, but what we don't know is which comes first -- are depressed people drawn to the internet or does the internet cause depression?," Morrison said.

"What is clear is that for a small subset（子集，小团体） of people, excessive use of the internet could be a warning signal for depressive tendencies."

Morrison noted¹² that while the 1.2 percent figure for those classed as "addicts" was small, it was larger than the incidence of gambling¹³ in Britain, which is around 0.6 percent.