ArticlePloS one2026
Sleep satisfaction and problematic smartphone use among adolescents in the Republic of Korea: The mediating roles of anxiety and loneliness.
Article in PloS one, 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
Problematic smartphone use (PSU) has become a growing public health concern among adolescents, with global prevalence estimates ranging from 10% to 30%. Sleep dissatisfaction has been identified as a potential risk factor for PSU. However, the psychological mechanisms underlying this association remain unclear. This study examined the relationship between sleep satisfaction and PSU among Korean adolescents, and investigated the mediating roles of anxiety and loneliness. Data were collected from 48,829 adolescents who were categorized into three groups: general users (72.1%), potential-risk users (24.8%), and high-risk users (3.1%). Group differences were examined using chi-square tests and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify the factors associated with PSU risk. Mediation analyses were conducted using a counterfactual framework to estimate the total, natural direct, and natural indirect effects of sleep satisfaction on PSU risk through anxiety and loneliness. Increased PSU risk was significantly associated with being female, high smartphone usage time (≥4 hours/day), and reporting poor perceived health. High-risk users reported markedly longer daily smartphone use (7.01 ± 0.12 hours) and significantly higher anxiety and loneliness scores compared to other groups (p < .001). Poor sleep satisfaction and insufficient physical activity were also significantly associated with higher PSU risk. Mediation analyses indicated significant natural indirect effects through anxiety and loneliness, with proportions mediated of 30.0% and 15.2%, respectively. Sleep dissatisfaction is significantly associated with problematic smartphone use among adolescents, and this relationship is partly explained by heightened anxiety and loneliness. Interventions aimed at improving sleep satisfaction and addressing emotional vulnerability may be effective strategies for reducing the PSU risk in this 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.