Teenagers addicted to the internet are more prone to aggressive behavior than normal teenagers, Taiwanese researchers recently announced.

Researchers studied 9,405 Taiwanese teenagers, and found that all who were said to be addicted to the internet were more likely to be aggressive towards their peers -- more likely to admit to hitting, shoving or threatening their peers within the past 12 months.

Of the 9,405 participants, 25 percent of male teenagers and 13 percent of female teenagers were believed to be official internet addicts.  Thirty two percent of all males and 13 percent of girls admitted to engaging in aggressive behavior, though 37 percent of participants with internet addiction also engaged in aggressive behavior.

"Online chatting, adult sex Web viewing, online gaming, online gambling and [surfing the] Bulletin Board System were all associated with aggressive behaviors," as teenagers would create the opportunity to "observe, experience and try aggressive behaviors [on the internet] resulting in positive outcome, [such as] identification in a group, being a hero or winning in games," researchers observed in the study.

Researchers published their findings in the Journal of Adolescent Health, but will be met by certain levels of criticism and doubt among other researchers.  Despite the findings of the Taiwanese researchers, it seems U.S. researchers aren't quite ready to blame the internet for aggressive behavior among adolescents.

Aside from the fact it's unknown how internet addiction was officially defined, there are numerous other factors that could have come into play, other researchers said.  Chinese researchers have created some guidelines towards the official definition of internet addiction, but a global definition has not been created and agreed upon.

"It could be that using the internet causes people to behave more aggressively or it could be that aggressive people seek out the internet," according to Brad Bushman, University of Michigan psychology professor.  "Or some other third factor could cause both -- people with poor social skills don't have any friends, so they spend a lot of time on the internet and can't resolve conflicts in non-aggressive ways."