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The relationship between cell phone use, physical and sedentary activity, and cardiorespiratory fitness in a sample of U.S. college students.

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Lepp A, Barkley JE, Sanders GJ, Rebold M, Gates P. · 2013

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Cell phone use was significantly and negatively related to cardiorespiratory fitness in college students.

Plain English Summary

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Participants were interviewed about physical activity and cell phone use, had body composition and self-efficacy assessed, and completed a progressive treadmill test to measure peak oxygen consumption. Hierarchical regression was used to assess the relationship between cell phone use and cardiorespiratory fitness after controlling for sex, self-efficacy, and percent body fat. Cell phone use was significantly and negatively related to cardiorespiratory fitness independent of sex, self-efficacy, and percent body fat.

Why This Matters

Interview data suggested high-frequency users often forgo physical activity to use their phones for sedentary behaviors. Low-frequency users reported being connected to active peer groups through their phones, which motivated physical activity. High cell phone use indicated a broader pattern of sedentary behaviors such as watching television. The researchers concluded that cell phone use may disrupt physical activity and reduce cardiorespiratory fitness.

Study Details

The purpose of this study was to investigate these relationships among a sample of healthy college students.

Participants were first interviewed about their physical activity behavior and cell phone use. Then ...

Cell phone use was significantly (p = 0.047) and negatively (β = −0.25) related to cardio respirator...

Cell phone use, like traditional sedentary behaviors, may disrupt physical activity and reduce cardiorespiratory fitness.

Cite This Study
Lepp A, Barkley JE, Sanders GJ, Rebold M, Gates P. (2013). The relationship between cell phone use, physical and sedentary activity, and cardiorespiratory fitness in a sample of U.S. college students. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2013 Jun 21;10:79. doi: 10.1186/1479-5868-10-79.
Show BibTeX
@article{a_2013_the_relationship_between_cell_2349,
  author = {Lepp A and Barkley JE and Sanders GJ and Rebold M and Gates P.},
  title = {The relationship between cell phone use, physical and sedentary activity, and cardiorespiratory fitness in a sample of U.S. college students.},
  year = {2013},
  doi = {10.1186/1479-5868-10-79},
  url = {https://ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1479-5868-10-79},
}
DOI: 10.1186/1479-5868-10-79

Cited By (310 papers)

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Quick Questions About This Study

Cell phone use was significantly and negatively related to cardiorespiratory fitness in college students.
Peak oxygen consumption (VO2 peak) during a progressive treadmill test to exhaustion was used to measure cardiorespiratory fitness.
High-frequency users were more likely to report forgoing opportunities for physical activity to use their cell phones for sedentary behaviors.
Low-frequency users were more likely to report being connected to active peer groups through their cell phones and cited this as motivation for physical activity.
Hierarchical regression assessed the relationship between cell phone use and cardiorespiratory fitness after controlling for sex, self-efficacy, and percent body fat. Chi-square analysis compared the responses of low and high frequency cell phone users.