ArticleBMJ open2016
Impact of screen time on mental health problems progression in youth: a 1-year follow-up study.
Article in BMJ open, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The Impact of Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) on HPV Persistence and Cervical Cancer Progression Among Women with HPV/HIV Co-infection: A Systematic Review.AIDS and behavior · 2025Pooled it
- The associations between sedentary behavior and risk of depression: a systematic review and dose response meta-analysis.BMC public health · 2025Pooled it
- The associations between screen time and mental health in adolescents: a systematic review.BMC psychology · 2023Pooled it
- Unhealthy behaviors associated with mental health disorders: a systematic comparative review of diet quality, sedentary behavior, and cannabis and tobacco use.Frontiers in public health · 2023Pooled it
- Screen time and depression risk: A meta-analysis of cohort studies.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- The associations between screen time-based sedentary behavior and depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC public health · 2019Pooled it
- Associations of dietary patterns and screen time with depressive symptoms among adolescents in Shandong Province, China.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Five-year trends in U. S. child and adolescent 24-hour movement behavior guideline adherence, 2018-2022.Journal of activity, sedentary and sleep behaviors · 2025Article
- The association of physical activity and leisure-time sedentary behavior with perceived stress among Chinese adults: A cross-sectional study based on the Chinese health and nutrition survey data.Preventive medicine reports · 2024Article
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- Article
- A Cross-Sectional Association Between Screen-Based Sedentary Behavior and Anxiety in Academic College Students: Mediating Role of Negative Emotions and Moderating Role of Emotion Regulation.Psychology research and behavior management · 2023Article
- Factors Associated with Sedentary Behavior and Physical Activity Among People Living in Saudi Arabia - A Cross-Sectional Study.Risk management and healthcare policy · 2023Article
- The relationship between online courses and mental health among Chinese children.BMC psychiatry · 2022Article
- Screen time and psychopathology: investigating directionality using cross-lagged panel models.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2022Article
- A collaborative approach to adopting/adapting guidelines. The Australian 24-hour movement guidelines for children (5-12 years) and young people (13-17 years): An integration of physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2022Article
- Article
- Factors associated with changes in physical activity and sedentary behaviour during one year among university-based young adults.Sports medicine and health science · 2021Article
- COVID-19 Lockdown and the Behavior Change on Physical Exercise, Pain and Psychological Well-Being: An International Multicentric Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Association of Sleep Duration and Screen Time With Anxiety of Pregnant Women During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesWe examined the relationships between screen time (ST) and mental health problems and also increment of ST and progression of mental health problems in a college-based sample of Chinese youth.
methodsWe assessed 2521 Chinese college freshmen from October 2013 to December 2014. At baseline, the mean age of participants was 18.43 years (SD 0.96 years), and 1215 (48.2%) participants reported ST >2 h/day. We estimated multivariable-adjusted ORs by using logistic regression models for the risk of developing mental health problems (anxiety, depression and psychopathological symptoms) and/or progression of these problems, according to baseline ST exposure and changes in exposure at follow-up.
resultsAt baseline, when ST >2 h/day was compared with ST ≤2 h/day, the OR was 1.38 (95% CI 1.15 to 1.65) for anxiety, 1.55 (95% CI 1.25 to 1.93) for depression and 1.49 (95% CI 1.22 to 1.83) for psychopathological symptoms. The results remained unchanged for depressive and psychopathological symptoms but not for anxiety, after additional adjustment for sex, age, residential background, body mass index, perceived family economy, sleep quality, smoking, alcohol intake, exercise after school and physical activity. When participants who had increased their ST exposure to >2 h/day were compared with those with no change and ST ≤2 h/day, the OR was 1.78 (95% CI 1.12 to 2.83) for anxiety, 1.92 (95% CI 1.23 to 2.83) for depression and 1.93 (95% CI 1.16 to 3.21) for psychopathological symptoms. These associations also remained after additional adjustment.
conclusionsThe overall effects are consistent yet small for ST/ST increment on mental health problems and its progression. Given the small effect size of the current results, it remains unclear the degree to which ST is a practically significant risk factor for mental health outcomes. Future studies of high quality are necessary to further examine this association and the direction of causality.
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