Studies Find Teens with Problematic Smartphone Use Are Twice as Likely to Have Anxiety

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by StudyFinds.

PSU (problematic smartphone use) describes a pattern of behaviors, thoughts and feelings linked to smartphones that resembles an addiction, such as feeling panicky or upset when the phone is unavailable, finding it difficult to control the amount of time spent on the phone, using it for longer without feeling satisfied, and using the phone to the detriment of other enjoyable or meaningful activities.

Researchers at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London conducted two studies at schools investigating the association between PSU and mental health in young people. One study was with young people aged 16–18 years and the other was with 13–16 year-olds. These studies are among the first to evaluate PSU and mental health outcomes in adolescents.

Overall, 18.7% of 16–18 year-olds and 14.5% of 13-16 year-olds self-reported PSU, with higher prevalence among girls.

Findings published in Acta Paediatrica revealed 16–18 year-olds who reported PSU were twice as likely to experience anxiety and almost three times as likely to experience depression compared to those who did not report PSU.

Findings published in BMJ Mental Health revealed nearly half of 13–16 year-olds with PSU reported symptoms of anxiety (44.4%) compared to 26.4% without PSU. Over half of 13–16 year-olds with PSU reported symptoms of depression (55.6%) compared to 35.8% without PSU.

This study also investigated if PSU was associated with mental health over time and showed increases in PSU scores over a four-week period were linked to increases in self-reported anxiety, depression and insomnia.

Source: MedicalXpress
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-08-teens-problematic-smartphone-anxiety.html