ArticleHealthcare (Basel, Switzerland)2024
The Association between Problematic Smartphone Use and Mental Health in Austrian Adolescents and Young Adults.
Article in Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland), 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Associations of Problematic Smartphone Use and Smartphone Screen Time With Eating Disorder Psychopathology in Non-Clinical Samples: A Systematic Review.JMIR mental health · 2026Pooled it
- The relationship between academic burnout and problematic smartphone use: a three-level meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Pooled it
- Impact of digital addiction on youth health: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2025Pooled it
- Smartphone screen time reduction improves mental health: a randomized controlled trial.BMC medicine · 2025Trial
- Problematic Smartphone Use and Quality of Life Among Greek Nursing Students: A Cross-Sectional Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- The Dose-Response Relationship Between Leisure-Time Physical Activity and Smartphone Addiction in First-Year Tehran University Students: A Cross-Sectional Study.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Peer-Mediated Digital Awareness Among Adolescents: Insights from a CAWI-Based Assessment at the European Researchers' Night.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- The Impact of Smartphone Use on Brain Function in Adolescence: A Scoping Review.Pediatric reports · 2026Review
- Article
- Changes in smartphone dependence and depressive and anxiety symptoms among Chinese adolescents.BMC medicine · 2025Article
- The Psychopathology of Problematic Smartphone Use (PSU): A Narrative Review of Burden, Mediating Factors, and Prevention.Health science reports · 2025Review
- Demystifying the New Dilemma of Brain Rot in the Digital Era: A Review.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- Problematic Media Use and Anxiety Symptoms in Adolescents: The Role of Age and Gender.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- How parental mediation affects adolescents' problematic smartphone use: the chain mediating role of basic psychological needs and positive outcome expectations.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- The Relationship and Effects of Self-Esteem and Body Shape on Eating Disorder Behavior: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Chinese University Students.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Although problematic smartphone use (PSU) is prevalent and associated with mental health and physical activity, there are no studies on its prevalence and associations in Austria. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of PSU and its associations with mental health in adolescents and young adults. A cross-sectional online survey was performed from 19 April to 27 July 2023, and the data of N = 913 respondents (14.1% male, 82.4% female, 3.5% diverse; median age: 17 [IQR: 15-18]; range: 14-20 years) were included in the analyses. Overall, 38.1% (females: 39.0%, males: 33.3%) of those surveyed were above the cut-off for PSU measured with the Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS-SV). In addition to screen time, PSU is also associated with depressive symptoms (aOR = 1.46), anxiety symptoms (aOR = 1.86), disordered eating (aOR = 1.55), and alcohol abuse (aOR = 1.71), but not physical inactivity. On the other hand, physical inactivity was associated with depressive symptoms (aOR = 2.48), anxiety symptoms (aOR = 1.74), distress (aOR = 2.02), and low well-being (aOR = 3.25). A total of 37.7% respondents reported being strongly lonely, as measured with the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale. The amount of screen time, but not PSU, was associated with loneliness. In sum, PSU affects more than one-third of adolescents and young adults in Austria and is associated with increased mental health symptoms. However, intensive screen time seems to be more strongly associated with increased mental health symptoms than PSU itself. The study confirms once again that smartphone use is associated with negative effects and that they should be used responsibly.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.