Mobile Phone Use and Mental Health. A Review of the Research That Takes a Psychological Perspective on Exposure

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to carry out a review of observational studies that consider links between mobile phone use and mental health from a psychological or behavioral perspective. Systematic literature searches in PubMed and PsycINFO for articles published until 2017 were done. Exclusion criteria included: papers that considered radiofrequency fields, attention, safety, relational consequences, sexual behavior, cyberbullying, and reviews, qualitative, and case or experimental studies. A total of 4738 papers were screened by title and abstract, 404 were retrieved in full text, and 290 were included. Only 5% had any longitudinal design. Self-reporting was the dominating method of measurement. One third of the studies included children or youth. A majority of adult populations consisted of university students and/or self-selected participants. The main research results included associations between frequent mobile phone use and mental health outcomes, such as depressive symptoms and sleep problems. Mobile phone use at bedtime was associated with, e.g., shorter sleep duration and lower sleep quality. “Problematic use” (dependency) was associated with several negative outcomes. In conclusion, associations between mobile phone use and adverse mental health outcomes are found in studies that take a psychological or behavioral perspective on the exposure. However, more studies of high quality are needed in order to draw valid conclusions about the mechanisms and causal directions of associations.

Longitudinal Effects of Excessive Smartphone Use on Stress and Loneliness: The Moderating Role of Self-Disclosure

“…Many applications of the smartphone are for stress relief and for social purposes; excessive smartphone use may be accompanied by several negative consequences, including stress and loneliness. 1 Thus far, numerous studies have addressed the antecedents and effects of excessive Internet and social networking site (SNS) use, but considerably less research has been conducted on excessive smartphone use. 1 The ability to access the internet and SNSs with a smartphone at all hours and locations renders excessive use especially facile.…”

Prevalence and Associated Lifestyle Factors of Suboptimal Health Status among Chinese Children Using a Multi-Level Model

“…A growing proportion of children were curtailing their sleep duration in response to increasing demands and lifestyle changes, such as prolonged studying hours, and introduction of new electronic technologies. Short sleep duration and poor sleep quality were found consistently associated with the Internet use, mobile phone use and number of devices in the bedroom [47][48][49][50]. Public health efforts that encouraged children to have sufficient sleep may be important in preventing SHS by decreasing studying burden and dependency on electronic devices.…”

Effect of restricting bedtime mobile phone use on sleep, arousal, mood, and working memory: A randomized pilot trial

“…PSAS is a 16-item, self-reported questionnaire comprising both cognitive and somatic manifestations of arousal, with eight items in each subscale. Two subscale scores ranging from 8 to 40 were computed separately: Pre-sleep Arousal Scale Cognitive Arousal (PSAS-C) with sum items 1-8, and Pre-sleep Arousal Scale Somatic Arousal (PSAS-S) with sum items [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. When responding to the PSAS, subjects were asked to describe how intensely they generally experienced each component as they attempted to fall asleep in their own bedroom by selecting an appropriate rating of "1: do not at all," "2: slightly," "3: moderately," "4: a lot," or "5: extremely," during the past week.…”

“…Many cross-sectional studies have investigated the relationship between mobile phone use and sleep [12][13][14][15]. Nevertheless, regarding the effects of restricting mobile phone use around bedtime on sleep, the number of existing randomized-controlled trials is limited.…”