Association Between Smartphone Attachment and Mental Health in Adolescents.
Xiaoxuan Liu, Liming Huang, Chelsea M Ward Mclntosh and 2 others
PMID 40704540WHAT IT FOUND
Adolescents with stronger smartphone attachment reported more anxiety and depressive symptoms, even after accounting for sleep and overall health.
Forty-five of 137 exceeded a moderate-to-severe attachment threshold and had higher anxiety and depression scores.
Key findings
01Higher smartphone attachment was significantly associated with higher anxiety and depressive t-scores after adjusting for age, sex, race, sleep disturbance and global health.
02Forty-five of 137 adolescents (32.9%) were above the moderate-to-severe smartphone attachment threshold; those above it had higher anxiety and depression t-scores than those below.
03Females scored higher on smartphone attachment (30.51 vs 27.21) and anxiety (51.10 vs 45.74) than males, but not on depression, global health or sleep disturbance.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was cross-sectional, so it could not show whether smartphone attachment led to anxiety or depression, or whether adolescents with symptoms became more attached to their phones. The sample was relatively small, came from one geographic area, and was drawn from a driving-after-concussion study of adolescents who could drive and owned a smartphone capable of study apps, so it may not represent all U.S. adolescents. Most participants identified as White and non-Hispanic. This limits generalizability to racially diverse populations. All measures were adolescent self-report, which may under- or over-estimate symptoms and smartphone attachment. Sleep disturbance and global health were also associated with anxiety and depression, so the study cannot isolate smartphone attachment as the only relevant factor.
Declared interests
The authors reported no actual or potential conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that smartphone attachment causes anxiety or depression. The study was cross-sectional, and the authors noted sleep disturbance and global health were also associated with symptoms.