WOMEN MORE ADDICT ON FACEBOOK

Facebook addicts are more likely to be women 

Women could have a new excuse for whiling away hours updating their Facebook profiles, scrolling through Twitter, or browsing online shopping sites.

Scientists have uncovered new evidence of a genetic variant linked to internet addiction - and the link occurred most frequently in women.

The University of Bonn's Dr. Christian Montag, who led the research, said it showed that internet addiction is 'not a figment of our imagination'.

Addiction: Dr Montag said the popularity of social networking sites like Facebook among women could be behind the sex-specific genetic finding

Dr. Montag and his team interviewed 843 people about their internet habits, eventually whittling the group down to 132 online addicts.

The addicts were then compared to a 'healthy' control group, and it emerged that the 132 subjects displaying problematic internet behaviour were more likely to be carriers of the genetic variation.

Those affected were most likely to be female

Dr. Montag suggested that the popularity of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter among women could be behind the trend, but added that further studies would be needed.

'The sex-specific genetic finding may result from a specific subgroup of Internet dependency, such as the use of social networks or such,' he said.

The scientists said the research could shed new light on why online obsessions affect some and not others.

Dr Christian Montag from the University of Bonn, who believes that online addiction is linked to a genetic variant already implicated in nicotine addiction