Focus
Prevalence of Problematic Smartphone Usage (PSU) and associated mental health outcomes amongst children and young people: A systematic review, meta-analysis and GRADE of the evidence
December 2019
Over the past decade, smartphone use has become widespread amongst today’s children and young people (CYP) which parallels increases in poor mental health in this group. Simultaneously, media concern abounds about the existence of ‘smartphone addiction’ or problematic smartphone use. There has been much recent research concerning the prevalence of problematic smartphone use is in children and young people who use smartphones, and how this syndrome relates to mental health outcomes, but this has not been synthesized and critically evaluated.
The authors, all from the King’s College London, UK aimed to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine the prevalence of Problematic Smartphone Usage (PSU) and quantify the association with mental health harms.
Methods: A search strategy using Medical Subject Headings was developed and adapted for eight databases between January 1st 2011 to October 15th 2017. No language restriction was applied. Of 924 studies identified, 41 were included in this review, three of which were cohort studies and 38 were cross sectional studies. The mental health outcomes were self-reported: depression; anxiety; stress; poor sleep quality; and decreased educational attainment, which were synthesized according to an a priori protocol.
The studies included 41,871 CYP, and 55% were female. The median prevalence of PSU amongst CYP was 23.3% (14.0–31.2%). PSU was associated with an increased odds of depression (OR = 3.17; 95 %CI 2.30–4.37; I² = 78%); increased anxiety (OR = 3.05 95% CI 2.64–3.53; I² = 0%); higher perceived stress (OR = 1.86;95% CI 1.24–2.77; I² = 65%); and poorer sleep quality (OR = 2.60; 95% CI; 1.39–4.85, I² = 78%).
Conclusions: Problematic Smartphone Usage (PSU) was reported in approximately one in every four Children and Young People (CYP) and accompanied by an increased odds of poorer mental health. PSU is an evolving public health concern that requires greater study to determine the boundary between helpful and harmful technology use. Policy guidance is needed to outline harm reduction strategies.
Sohn, S., Rees, P., Wildridge, B. et al. Prevalence of problematic smartphone usage and associated mental health outcomes amongst children and young people: a systematic review, meta-analysis and GRADE of the evidence. BMC Psychiatry 19, 356 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-019-2350-x
OSH UPDATE + FIRE
OSH UPDATE + FIRE has numerous articles, leaflets and advice on all aspects mental health, especially in the workplace.
OSH UPDATE + FIRE is easily searchable by keywords, titles, journal names, standard number, authors, organisations, and will keep you and your colleagues alerted to all the latest hot topics in workplaces health and safety and much more.
It is easy to have a trial of OSH UPDATE + FIRE www.oshupdate.com which currently has over 1,156,201 records and includes 115,684 full text documents.
There are many other examples of lessons learned in the reports, results from research, guidance and advice available in OSH UPDATE + FIRE to help organisations – managers, directors, supervisors and workers and especially those teaching in colleges and universities to learn about the all aspects of working safely and healthily in all workplaces.
Arguably THE largest electronic collection in the world on these very wide subject areas from worldwide sources. There is a special collection of OSH legislation, guidance and advice within OSH UPDATE and FIRE!
The databases and contents are from worldwide class organisations such as the US NIOSH, the UK Health and Safety Executive, the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work and many more similar organisations around the world.
This time of the year is a good time for all organisations worldwide to review their health and safety goals and decide on the training or re-training that is needed for all levels of staff and update their information resources.
Check out these successful efforts and introduce them into your workplace!
It is always good to keep researching and finding out if there are services and other ways of keeping up to date in this fast-changing world of ours. Time is precious and many people are really stretched in their jobs and find it difficult to keep ahead in current knowledge that they should have for their jobs. So help is at hand for those working in health, safety and fire and fire related industries which are brought together in an easy to use web service entitled OSH UPDATE + FIRE www.oshupdate.com that is constantly updated.
If you need further information on all aspects of the development of health and safety in Great Britain /UK and in any other country over the decades then have a look at OSH UPDATE + FIRE which is a unique electronic collection of information sources collected together in one place – www.oshupdate.com! Available for a 15-day free trial!
Information seekers will find a wealth of authoritative and validated advice from these global sources. Full text documents and references on research results, best practices, case studies, journal articles, reports, advice and guidance, legislation, accidents and incident reports and much more are in the OSH UPDATE + FIRE collection.
Why not try OSH UPDATE + FIRE for yourself? OSH UPDATE + FIRE is arguably the world’s biggest collection of worldwide OSH information, is easy to use and is very budget friendly. Why pay more for information?
For a 15-DAY FREE NO OBLIGATION TRIAL contact: Sheila Pantry Associates Ltd, email: sp@sheilapantry.com or fill in the Interest form www.sheilapantry.com/interest.html