Association between Problematic Cellular Phone Use and Suicide: The Moderating Effect of Family Function and Depression.
Wang PW, Liu TL, Ko CH, Lin HC, Huang MF, Yeh YC, Yen CF. · 2013
View Original AbstractTeens with problematic cell phone use show double the suicide risk, but strong family bonds can provide critical protection.
Plain English Summary
Researchers studied over 5,000 teenagers in Taiwan to examine whether problematic cell phone use is linked to suicidal thoughts and attempts. They found that teens with problematic phone use had twice the rate of suicidal thoughts (23.5% vs 11.8%) and nearly three times the rate of suicide attempts (13.7% vs 5.5%) compared to teens without phone problems. The study revealed that strong family relationships can help protect teens with phone addiction from these serious mental health risks.
Why This Matters
This research adds crucial evidence to our understanding of how device overuse affects adolescent mental health, particularly in our hyperconnected world where the average teen receives over 4,000 text messages per month. While this study doesn't measure EMF exposure levels directly, it examines the behavioral and psychological consequences of intensive cellular phone use, which inherently involves prolonged EMF exposure to developing brains. The findings are particularly concerning given that problematic phone use affected over 10% of participants, with dramatically elevated suicide risk in this group. What this means for you as a parent is that monitoring your teen's phone habits isn't just about screen time - it's about recognizing when device dependence might signal deeper mental health vulnerabilities that require family intervention and support.
Exposure Information
Specific exposure levels were not quantified in this study.
Study Details
This study explored the association between problematic CPU and suicidal ideation and attempts among adolescents and investigated how family function and depression influence the association between problematic CPU and suicidal ideation and attempts.
A total of 5051 (2872 girls and 2179 boys) adolescents who owned at least one cellular phone complet...
Five hundred thirty-two adolescents (10.54%) had problematic CPU. The rates of suicidal ideation wer...
This study highlights the association between problematic CPU and suicidal ideation as well as attempts and indicates that good family function may have a more significant role on reducing the risks of suicidal ideation and attempts in adolescents with problematic CPU than in those without problematic CPU.
Show BibTeX
@article{pw_2013_association_between_problematic_cellular_2678,
author = {Wang PW and Liu TL and Ko CH and Lin HC and Huang MF and Yeh YC and Yen CF.},
title = {Association between Problematic Cellular Phone Use and Suicide: The Moderating Effect of Family Function and Depression.},
year = {2013},
url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24262117/},
}