ArticlePloS one2026
Digital behavioral addictions in adolescents and young adults: Protocol for a scoping review of definitions, measurement, epidemiology, determinants, harms, interventions, and equity.
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
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundDigital behaviors associated with impaired control and functional impairment are described using heterogeneous terms and measures. Gaming Disorder is recognized in ICD-11, Internet Gaming Disorder remains a DSM-5-TR condition for further study, and problematic social media and smartphone use are research constructs rather than established diagnoses. These distinctions avoid equating screening-positive use with clinical disorder.
objectiveThis scoping review will map definitions, measurement, epidemiology, determinants, harms, interventions, implementation, and equity among adolescents and young adults.
methodsFollowing JBI guidance, we will search nine bibliographic and grey-literature databases and supplementary sources from inception, without database-level date or language limits. The core population is aged 10-24 years; separately extractable data for ages 25-29 will form a secondary comparison stratum, while inseparable broader-age samples will be used only for contextual purposes. Two reviewers will independently screen and chart. Automation will not make eligibility, appraisal, synthesis, or interpretation decisions; frameworks have bounded module-specific roles. Every final eligibility decision and extracted finding from six eligible non-English languages will undergo source-language human verification. Instruments will be classified per use into graded evidence tiers without tier-based exclusion. Result-level rules will distinguish determinants, concurrent associations, harms, intervention effectiveness, adverse events, and implementation outcomes. All seven module-specific charting forms will be completed before calibration, and module-stratified calibration will precede full charting. Primary and secondary evidence will remain separate, and overlap will be tracked through study, report, sample, review, and result identifiers. Qualitative findings will undergo dual-coded framework analysis. Source-level appraisal will be descriptive and non-exclusionary. No confirmatory hypothesis testing or meta-analysis is planned. EXPECTED CONTRIBUTION: The review will produce construct- and instrument-specific evidence maps and an equity-oriented gap map intended to inform measurement selection, service and policy planning, intervention development, and priorities for focused systematic reviews. Registration: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/NPWTV.
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.