Preliminary study of the social withdrawal (hikikomori) spectrum in French adolescents: focusing on the differences in pathology and related factors compared with Japanese adolescents

Jul 17 (biomedcentral.com) - Social withdrawal (hikikomori) has become an internationally recognized phenomenon, but its pathology and related factors are not yet fully known.

We previously conducted a statistical case-control study on adolescent patients with hikikomori in Japan, which revealed the non-specificity of pathology in patients with hikikomori. Further, environmental factors, such as the lack of communication between parents and Internet overuse, were found to be significant predictors of hikikomori severity. Here, we aimed to conduct a similar preliminary case-control study in France and to compare the results with those from the study conducted in Japan.

Conclusion

Hikikomori in Japan and France could be considered essentially the same phenomenon; moreover, our findings demonstrated the universal non-specificity and unbiasedness of the hikikomori pathology. This suggests that hikikomori is not a single clinical category with a specific psychopathology; instead, it is a common phenotype with various underlying pathologies. However, different strategies may be required in each country to prevent the onset and progression of hikikomori. ...continue reading

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