The association between problematic smartphone use and symptoms of anxiety and depression-a meta-analysis
Augner C, Vlasak T, Aichhorn W, Barth A
Journal of public health (Oxford, England) · 52 citations
Review labels
Neutral facts our review recorded about how this study was done. They describe method, never whether we like the result.
How it was studied
- Design
- Meta-analysis (indexed by PubMed)
- Studied in
- People
- Main outcome
- Health markers and function
Who paid for it
- Funding
- Funding not disclosed
Publication
- Published
- 2021-09-08 · J Public Health (Oxf) · vol. 45 · issue 1 · pp. 193–201
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press
- Cited
- 122 citations · more than 90% of similar papers · 2.7× the field average
- References
- 72 works
- Access
- Paywalled
- Research areas
- Impact of Technology on Adolescents · Digital Mental Health Interventions · Perfectionism, Procrastination, Anxiety Studies
- Keywords
- smartphone addiction, anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, mental health, maladaptive coping, diagnosis
- MeSH
- humans, adaptation, psychological, depression, behavior, addictive, anxiety, smartphone
4 authors
From AT
- Christoph AugnerParacelsus Medical University; Christian Doppler Klinik
- Thomas VlasakSigmund Freud Privatuniversität - Standort Linz
- Wolfgang AichhornParacelsus Medical University; Christian Doppler Klinik
- Alfred Barth · correspondingSigmund Freud Privatuniversität - Standort Linz
Abstract
Background
Recent research links problematic smartphone use (PSU) and mental health problems. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the relationship between PSU and symptoms of anxiety and/or depression.
Methods
We searched for research literature published recently in PubMed and Google Scholar via a systematic literature search. Twenty-seven studies published since 2014 with 120 895 participants were included in the meta-analysis.
Results
PSU was moderately but robustly associated with both anxiety, r = 0.29 (95% CI: 0.23-0.35), and depression, r = 0.28 (95% CI: 0.22-0.34), P < 0.001 for both. Homogeneity tests showed significant P-values for anxiety and depression, but without affecting the results. Neither the age of the participants, publication year nor the study quality could explain the heterogeneity. Furthermore, we found no evidence for publication bias, since Egger's regression test showed no significance for depression (P = 0.21) and anxiety (P = 0.35).
Conclusions
Our study shows that PSU can be viewed as an indicator of symptoms of anxiety and depression and a possible manifestation of these mental health problems in modern society. Furthermore, PSU as a maladaptive coping behavior may contribute by worsening these symptoms. PSU screening should thus become part of standard clinical psychological diagnostic procedures.
Abstract via Europe PMC. Copyright remains with the authors or publisher.
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