ArticleBMC public health2019
Impact of problematic mobile phone use and insufficient physical activity on depression symptoms: a college-based follow-up study.
Article in BMC public health, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 43 citations in OpenAlex.
- Meta-analytic structural equation modeling with mediation role of problematic mobile phone use between solitude and anxiety and depression.BMC psychology · 2026Pooled 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
- The Relationship Between Physical Activity and Mobile Phone Addiction Among Adolescents and Young Adults: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Observational Studies.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2022Pooled it
- One-year update on physical activity and smartphone addiction in university students: A systematic review of novel research.Preventive medicine reports · 2025Review
- Nomophobia, Psychopathology, and Smartphone-Inferred Behaviors in Youth With Depression: Longitudinal Study.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- Physical activity, resilience, and depressive symptoms in Chinese college students: gender differences in mediating pathways'.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Prevalence and associated factors of mental distress among private college nursing students in Gondar town, Northwest Ethiopia, 2023.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- The effect of smartphone addiction on adolescent health: the moderating effect of leisure physical activities.Psicologia, reflexao e critica : revista semestral do Departamento de Psicologia da UFRGS · 2024Article
- Moderating effects of PER3 gene DNA methylation on the association between problematic mobile phone use and chronotype among Chinese young adults: Focus on gender differences.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2024Article
- Could physical activity alleviate smartphone addiction in university students? A systematic literature review.Preventive medicine reports · 2024Review
- Combined effect of the smartphone addiction and physical activity on the depressive symptoms in secondary school students: a cross sectional study in Shanghai, China.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- How Physical Exercise Reduces Problematic Mobile Phone Use in Adolescents: The Roles of Expression Suppression, Depression, Anxiety, and Resilience.Psychology research and behavior management · 2024Article
- Effects of multicomponent exercise nursing intervention in elderly stroke patients with frailty: a randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in medicine · 2024Article
- The potential causal relationship between various lifestyles and depression: a univariable and multivariable Mendelian randomization study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- Gender-based differences in interaction effects between childhood maltreatment and problematic mobile phone use on college students' depression and anxiety symptoms.BMC psychiatry · 2023Article
- Influencing factors of care dependence in patients with coronary heart disease after percutaneous coronary intervention-A cross-sectional study.Nursing open · 2023Article
- Physical activity, problematic smartphone use, and burnout among Chinese college students.PeerJ · 2023Article
- How physical exercise influences academic burnout among Chinese "Double Non" college students: the chain mediation role of mobile phone addiction and learning engagement.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- A Latent Profile Analysis of PERMA: Associations with Physical Activity and Psychological Distress among Chinese Nursing College Students.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Effects of Physical Exercise on Mobile Phone Addiction in College Students: The Chain Mediation Effect of Psychological Resilience and Perceived Stress.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundInsufficient physical activity (IPA) and mobile phone dependence are common coexisting behaviors among college students. However, the impact of the synergies between the two behaviors on depression has yet to be validated. Therefore, this study evaluated independent and interactive associations of problematic mobile phone use (PMPU) and IPA with depression symptoms and increased depressive symptoms among Chinese college students.
methodsIn total, 2134 college students participated in this follow-up study, which was conducted between June 2014 (wave 1) and December 2014 (wave 2) at Anhui Medical University. The Self-rating Questionnaire for Adolescent Problematic Mobile Phone Use and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale were used to assess PMPU and depression symptoms, respectively. Physical activity (PA) was assessed with a reliable question from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Joint effects of PMPU and PA were calculated, and increased depressive symptoms were assessed. We used multivariable-adjusted odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) to evaluate associations between depression symptoms and PMPU, IPA, and the PMPU/IPA joint effect, estimated by binary logistic regression models.
resultsPMPU and high PMPU/IPA joint effect scores were significantly associated with depression symptoms in waves 1 (OR 7.36, 95% CI: 5.09, 10.66) and 2 (OR 3.74, 95% CI: 2.56, 5.48). IPA was significantly associated with depression symptoms in wave 1 (OR 1.40, 95% CI: 1.09, 1.79) but not wave 2 (OR 1.24, 95% CI: 0.95, 1.62). PMPU and high PMPU/IPA joint effect scores were also significantly associated with increased depressive symptoms (OR 2.36, 95% CI: 1.55, 3.60).
conclusionsThese results suggest that PMPU is an important factor for depression in college students, and IPA may be a synergistic factor.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.