ArticleBMC public health2026
Gender differences in smartphone addiction, physical activity, and quality of life: a cross-sectional study.
Article in BMC public health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSmartphones are now a vital part of daily life for young adults, especially university students. While gender differences in both technology use and health behaviours have been noted. There is a lack of comprehensive analysis on how gender is associated with the relationship between smartphone addiction, physical activity, and quality of life (QoL). This study aimed to compare levels of smartphone addiction, physical activity, and QoL between genders, examine the relationships among these variables, and investigate whether these relationships differ by gender.
methodsA cross-sectional study involving 245 adult participants (127 male, 118 female) aged 18-24 years was conducted. Participants completed an online self-reported survey that included the Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS), the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents (PAQ-A), and the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF). Data were analyzed using independent-samples t-tests, Mann-Whitney U tests, Pearson and Spearman correlations, and moderation analysis via multiple linear regression.
resultsMales scored significantly higher than females in psychological health (p = 0.017) and physical activity (p = 0.029). No significant gender differences were found for smartphone addiction, physical health, social relationships, environmental health, or overall QoL (all p > 0.05). Smartphone addiction was negatively correlated with physical health (ρ = -0.125, p = 0.049), environmental health (ρ = -0.166, p = 0.008), and overall QoL (r = -0.164, p = 0.009), but not with psychological health (r = -0.103, p = 0.106) or social relationships (ρ = -0.123, p = 0.054). Physical activity was positively correlated with all QoL domains (all p < 0.01). Gender did not moderate the relationship between smartphone addiction and QoL (R² = 0.030, p = 0.314) or between physical activity and QoL (R² = 0.065, p = 0.957).
conclusionThis research demonstrated that males reported higher psychological health and physical activity than females, but no significant gender differences in smartphone addiction or most quality of life domains. Smartphone addiction was associated with poorer physical and environmental quality of life, but not with psychological or social quality of life. Physical activity was consistently associated with better quality of life across all domains. Gender did not moderate these relationships, serving only as a predictor in certain models. These findings clarify that while gender differences exist in specific health behaviors, the pathways linking smartphone use, physical activity, and quality of life are largely similar across such a young population.
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.