Research Trends on Problematic Internet Use by Children and Students in Educational Clinicals

In a landmark event in response to changes in mental health care in Japan, the Certified Psychologist Act was enacted in 2017, creating the first national certification for psychologists in Japan. They provide psychological support and other services in five main areas, including medical health, education, and industrial work. Meanwhile, the digitalization of education is progressing rapidly in the field of education, which has both positive and negative aspects. This paper discusses research on the impact of problematic internet use by children on mental health in educational clinical settings. In particular, it focuses on children’s problematic internet use, school refusal, and developmental disorders, taking related background information into account. Specifically, it emphasizes the introduction of multiple studies conducted by the author as well as large-scale research carried out by project teams based on Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B).