SynthesisJournal of youth and adolescence2025
The Associations Between Social Support and Problematic Mobile Phone Use Among Children and Adolescents: A Three-level Meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Journal of youth and adolescence, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 2 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
11 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- How Childhood Maltreatment Predicts Prosocial Behaviors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2026Pooled it
- Relationship between online social support and problematic internet use: a three-level meta-analysis.BMC psychology · 2025Pooled it
- Associations Between Protective Factors and Prosocial Behaviors Among Children and Adolescents with Childhood Maltreatment: A Three-level Meta-Analysis.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2026Article
- Problematic social media use among young people in Germany: frequency and associated psychosocial and behavioral factors - results from the COPSY study.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2026Article
- Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors Among Chinese Adolescents in Relation to Negative Life Events, Internet Addiction, and Sexual Abuse: Cross-Sectional Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Self-Control and Perceived Parental Psychological Control? Their Links with Depression and Problematic Mobile Phone Use in Primary School Students.Child psychiatry and human development · 2026Article
- Correlates of mobile device use in young children: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- The Social Perception of Teachers' Emotional Intelligence and Problematic Internet Use among Spanish Adolescents: A Serial Mediation Model Involving Teacher-Student Relationships and Stress.Psychosocial intervention · 2026Article
- The Bidirectional Relationships between Social Pressure in Digital Contexts, Depression, and Social Support over Time.Psychosocial intervention · 2025Article
- Network analysis of the association between social anxiety and problematic smartphone use in college students.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Exploring the Intrinsic Association Between Perceived Social Support and Depressive Symptoms and Problematic Phone Use Among College Students Based on Network Analysis.Psychology research and behavior management · 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
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Numerous studies have investigated the relationship between social support and problematic mobile phone use among adolescents, yet a definitive consensus remains elusive. The high prevalence of problematic mobile phone use among children and adolescents requires urgent clarity on this issue. However, previous meta-analyses on this topic have primarily focused on college students, overlooking this association in younger age groups. The present study thus concentrated on children and adolescents, conducting a three-level meta-analysis to combine existing research findings and analyze various moderators to identify sources of research heterogeneity. A systematic literature search retrieved a total of 33 studies with 135 effect sizes for this meta-analysis, and 25,537 students (53.83% female, age range 7-19, grades range 3rd-12th) were included. The results showed a negative correlation (r = -0.139) between social support and problematic mobile phone use in children and adolescents. Age, social support measurement, sources of social support, and symptoms of problematic mobile phone use were found to have a significant moderating influence. Specifically, social support showed a stronger negative correlation with problematic mobile phone use in older adolescents compared to their younger counterparts. The correlation was more pronounced when using the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support than other scales. Family support exhibited a stronger negative correlation with problematic mobile phone use compared to other sources of support. Among the symptoms of problematic mobile phone use, the inability to control craving has the strongest negative correlation with social support. This meta-analysis suggested that providing more social support, particularly in the form of family support, during the development of children and adolescents may help alleviate problematic mobile phone use.
Indexed as
Identifiers
39033221What 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.