ArticleBMC psychiatry2022
Associations between problematic smartphone use and behavioural difficulties, quality of life, and school performance among children and adolescents.
Article in BMC psychiatry, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 58 citations in OpenAlex.
- Smartphone Apps for Preventing Adolescent Health Problems Among Health Care Professionals: Systematic Search and Quality Assessment.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2026Pooled it
- Gender differences in smartphone addiction, physical activity, and quality of life: a cross-sectional study.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Development and validation of a nomogram to predict mobile phone addiction risk among Chinese adolescents.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Problematic mobile phone and social media use among adolescents and its relationship with cyberbullying, cybervictimisation and social anxiety.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Network analysis of functional disabilities and their association with mental well-being in children and adolescents: multi-country study across low- and middle-income countries.The British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science · 2026Article
- Article
- Smartphone Ownership, Age of Smartphone Acquisition, and Health Outcomes in Early Adolescence.Pediatrics · 2026Article
- Smartphone use, wellbeing, and their association in children.Pediatric research · 2025Article
- Observational
- Moderated mediation model of the association between problematic smartphone use and dry eye disease within Moroccan adolescents.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Facial emotion based smartphone addiction detection and prevention using deep learning and video based learning.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Validity, reproducibility, and reliability of the Brazilian version of the smartphone addiction scale-short version in children.Revista paulista de pediatria : orgao oficial da Sociedade de Pediatria de Sao Paulo · 2025Article
- Associations Among Depressive and Anxious Symptoms, Fear of Missing Out, and Problematic Smartphone Use Severity Among Chinese Adolescents: A Three-Wave Random-Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Analysis.Psychology research and behavior management · 2025Article
- Mobile phone dependence and musculoskeletal pain prevalence in adolescents: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Prevalence and factors associated with problematic use of smartphone in high school students from southern Brazil.Cadernos de saude publica · 2025Article
- Digital Device Usage and Childhood Cognitive Development: Exploring Effects on Cognitive Abilities.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Emotional and Behavioural Factors Predisposing to Internet Addiction: The Smartphone Distraction among Italian High School Students.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Article
- A Network Structure of Mental Health and Problematic Mobile Phone Use Among Middle School Students.Psychology research and behavior management · 2024Article
- Smartphone addiction and its association with hypertension and quality of sleep among medical students of Northern Border University, Arar, Saudi Arabia.Saudi medical journal · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundEuropean studies on determinants and factors associated with problematic smartphone use (PSU) in children and adolescents are still sparse. This study reports the current amount of PSU symptoms and the presence of (clinically relevant) PSU in German children and adolescents. We also investigated associations between socio-demographic factors, different smartphone usage patterns, and daily smartphone usage time and the amount of PSU symptoms in this group. In addition, associations of PSU symptoms and high smartphone usage times (> 2 h/day) with behavioural problems, quality of life (QoL), and school performance were investigated.
methodsWithin the framework of the LIFE Child study, 564 children and adolescents aged 10-18 years provided information on PSU symptoms (using the Smartphone Addiction Proneness Scale), daily smartphone usage time, smartphone activities, behavioural strengths and difficulties (using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire), QoL (using the KIDSCREEN-27), and school performance. Multiple regression analyses were applied to assess associations.
resultsIn the present sample, PSU was present in 13 children (2.3%). Older age, female gender, high daily smartphone usage time of > 2 h, and intensive smartphone use for social networking, gaming, or watching video clips were significantly associated with more PSU symptoms. Children and adolescents reporting more PSU symptoms also showed lower QoL, more behavioural difficulties, and poorer school performance, independently of age, gender, socio-economic status, and daily smartphone usage time. In contrast, daily smartphone usage time per se showed only weak or non-significant associations with these aspects of health and behaviour.
conclusionIntensive smartphone use for entertainment may increase the risk of developing PSU symptoms. Furthermore, the results indicate that PSU symptoms (more than long smartphone usage times per se) are associated with more behavioural difficulties and poorer QoL.
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