ArticleBMC public health2023
Gender differences in the relationships between meaning in life, mental health status and digital media use during Covid-19.
Article in BMC public health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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.
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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
5 citing papers in PubMed, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Perceived Digital Well-Being Scale in the United States and United Kingdom: Psychometric Validation Study.JMIR mental health · 2025Article
- Connected but at Risk: Social Media Exposure and Psychiatric and Psychological Outcomes in Youth.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- The hidden costs of nomophobia: associations with sleep, diet, anxiety, alcohol consumption, and lifestyle patterns among nursing students.BMC nursing · 2025Article
- The effect of social suspicion on social media addiction among Chinese college students: A moderated mediation model.PloS one · 2025Article
- Social anxiety and emoji use: gender differences and the role of loneliness in digital communication among college students.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on individuals' social lives, mental health status, and meaning in life (MIL). Globally, the use of different types of digital media has become a proxy for pre-COVID social lives for many people. This study investigated gender differences in the relationship between use of digital media, mental health status and MIL, during COVID-19 in Hong Kong.
methodsThis cross-sectional study surveyed 1,488 young people recruited via city-wide random sampling in 2021. Respondents completed a phone survey on digital media use, Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-2), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-2), COVID-19 impact, meaning in life, and demographics. Gender differences in MIL were tested with an independent sample t-test. Gender-specific multiple linear regression models tested associations between MIL and explanatory variables of age, educational level, history of diagnosis, digital media use, and mental health status.
resultsThere was a significant gender difference in MIL (males (M = 12.90, SD = 4.12); females (M = 13.45, SD = 3.96); t (1485) = -2.656, p = .008). For males, all variables significantly associated to MIL (F (9, 759) = 15.731, p < .000, R
conclusionFemales had significantly better MIL under COVID-19 than males. Digital media use contributed to MIL in males but not females, and there were gender-specific associated factors of MIL.
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