How well do adolescents recall use of mobile telephones? Results of a validation study

Abstract

BackgroundIn the last decade mobile telephone use has become more widespread among children. Concerns expressed about possible health risks have led to epidemiological studies investigating adverse health outcomes associated with mobile telephone use. Most epidemiological studies have relied on self reported questionnaire responses to determine individual exposure. We sought to validate the accuracy of self reported adolescent mobile telephone use.MethodsParticipants were recruited from year 7 secondary school students in Melbourne, Australia. Adolescent recall of mobile telephone use was assessed using a self administered questionnaire which asked about number and average duration of calls per week. Validation of self reports was undertaken using Software Modified Phones (SMPs) which logged exposure details such as number and duration of calls.ResultsA total of 59 adolescents participated (39% boys, 61% girls). Overall a modest but significant rank correlation was found between self and validated number of voice calls (ρ = 0.3, P = 0.04) with a sensitivity of 57% and specificity of 66%. Agreement between SMP measured and self reported duration of calls was poorer (ρ = 0.1, P = 0.37). Participants whose parents belonged to the 4th socioeconomic stratum recalled mobile phone use better than others (ρ = 0.6, P = 0.01).ConclusionAdolescent recall of mobile telephone use was only modestly accurate. Caution is warranted in interpreting results of epidemiological studies investigating health effects of mobile phone use in this age group.

Memory performance, wireless communication and exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields: A prospective cohort study in adolescents

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“…This study relied on self-reported mobile phone use only, which has been shown to be inaccurate. Adolescents tend to substantially overestimate their amount of mobile phone use (Aydin et al 2011;Inyang et al 2009). …”

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“…This residual variance is likely to reflect substantial error variance in the self-report measures concerning frequencies of talking and texting. Previous studies show that recall accuracy for mobile phone use is only moderate, in both adolescents (Inyang, Benke, Morrissey, McKenzie, & Abramson, 2009) and adults (Timotijevic et al, 2009Vrijheid et al, 2006Vrijheid et al, 2009), with substantial random error and typically about 20% underestimation of call number and 40% overestimation of call duration. Thus, the observed heritabilities and genetic correlations estimated from these self-report data are probably lower than the true values.…”

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“…It is well established that adolescents tend to overestimate their mobile phone use (Aydin et al 2011;Inyang et al 2009). This especially holds for duration of mobile phone calls and less pronounced for frequency of calls.…”