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Brain & Nervous System1,197 citations

Mobile phone use and stress, sleep disturbances, and symptoms of depression among young adults - a prospective cohort study

No Effects Found

Thomée S, Härenstam A, Hagberg M · 2011

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Heavy mobile phone use predicts stress, sleep problems, and depression in young adults, especially when feeling pressured to stay constantly accessible.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

Swedish researchers followed over 4,000 young adults for one year to examine whether mobile phone use patterns affect mental health. They found that heavy phone users were more likely to experience stress, sleep problems, and depression symptoms, with the strongest effects among those who felt pressured to always be accessible. The study suggests that how we use our phones psychologically matters as much as how often we use them.

Study Details

The overall aim of this study was to investigate whether there are associations between psychosocial aspects of mobile phone use and mental health symptoms in a prospective cohort of young adults.

The study group consisted of young adults 20-24 years old (n = 4156), who responded to a questionnai...

There were cross-sectional associations between high compared to low mobile phone use and stress, sl...

High frequency of mobile phone use at baseline was a risk factor for mental health outcomes at 1-year follow-up among the young adults. The risk for reporting mental health symptoms at follow-up was greatest among those who had perceived accessibility via mobile phones to be stressful. Public health prevention strategies focusing on attitudes could include information and advice, helping young adults to set limits for their own and others' accessibility.

Cite This Study
Thomée S, Härenstam A, Hagberg M (2011). Mobile phone use and stress, sleep disturbances, and symptoms of depression among young adults - a prospective cohort study BMC Public Health. 11:66, 2011.
Show BibTeX
@article{s_2011_mobile_phone_use_and_2813,
  author = {Thomée S and Härenstam A and Hagberg M},
  title = {Mobile phone use and stress, sleep disturbances, and symptoms of depression among young adults - a prospective cohort study},
  year = {2011},
  doi = {10.1186/1471-2458-11-66},
  url = {https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2458-11-66?dom=prime&src=syn},
}

Quick Questions About This Study

Swedish researchers followed over 4,000 young adults for one year to examine whether mobile phone use patterns affect mental health. They found that heavy phone users were more likely to experience stress, sleep problems, and depression symptoms, with the strongest effects among those who felt pressured to always be accessible. The study suggests that how we use our phones psychologically matters as much as how often we use them.