ИСТИНА

Introduction. The impact of the Internet on health and well-being of adolescents has become a certain concern. There exists the need to identify major risk groups. Objectives. To identify Internet behavior patterns of Russian adolescents depending on the gender and sociocultural context. Methods. The study involved 517 adolescents aged 15 to 18 years (M=16.46;SD=1.07) from eight regions of Russia (43% males and 57 % females). We analyzed the respondents' self-report on Internet behavior (the web-surfing time daily and the main reasons for using the Internet) and figured out the relationship between Internet behavior and the self-assessment of health. Results. Statistical analysis showed that girls spend significantly more time on the Internet than boys do (χ²=13.83 at p=0.003 with Cramer's V effect size 0.165), significantly more often report using the Internet to obtain information (Cramer's V effect size 0.115), to communicate (Cramer's V effect size 0.091), to study (Cramer's V effect size 0.097), and to expand their social circle (Cramer's V effect size 0.121). Boys are significantly more likely to indicate using the Internet to post comments (Cramer's V effect size 0.109). Adolescents from Dagestan spend significantly less time on the Internet than adolescents from other regions. An inverse correlation was found between the self-assessment of health and the indicated daily web-surfing time. Conclusions. The greatest differences in using the Internet by Russian adolescents are related to gender. The research was supported by the Russian Science Foundation, with the Grant 15-18-00109.