Longitudinal association between smartphone ownership and depression among schoolchildren under COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Under the COVID-19 pandemic, concerns regarding prolonged screen time and mental health effects in children have increased. We examined the association of depression with smartphone ownership in school children at four time points: September 2019, July 2020, December 2020, and March 2021. The analysis revealed an interaction between group and time, indicating that depressive symptoms among smartphone owners were significantly more severe than in the other group. These results were clearer for fourth-year students, pointing that smartphone possession at younger ages may be a risk factor for mental health in the new lifestyle caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The impact of media on children during the COVID-19 pandemic: A narrative review

“…Several papers selected in this review proved that the pandemic influenced children's habits toward electronic media, such as gaming and time spent on social media or smartphones ( Adachi et al., 2022 ; Camerini & Albanese, 2021; Chen et al., 2021 ; Chen et al., 2022 ; Hmidan, 2022 ; Kim et al., 2021 ; Marfua, 2021 ; Sciberras et al., 2022 ; Serra et al., 2021 ; Werling et al., 2021a , Werling et al., 2021b ).…”

COVID-19 pandemic and mental health problems of adults in United States: mediating roles of cognitive concerns and behavioral changes

“…Additional efforts should be made to ensure mental health equity among generally disadvantaged people, including racial and ethnic minorities, seniors, homeless people, and those with chronic mental problems [ 18 , 25 , 32 , 35 , 49 ]. Existing free and confidential hotlines can be also extended to provide immediate mental healthcares for vulnerable subpopulations during the pandemic, including children [ 3 , 27 ], pregnant women [ 29 ], the elderly [ 42 ], healthcare workers [ 33 , 54 ], physicians [ 1 ], and young adults [ 9 ]. In addition to such secondary and tertiary prevention for the mental health crisis, primordial and primary prevention strategies should be provided to address such inevitable loneliness and social isolation.…”

Smartphone addiction risk, technology-related behaviors and attitudes, and psychological well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…COVID-19 pandemic-related perceived risk of infection, illness fears, acute stress, emotional anxiety, exhaustion, and fatigue, psychological trauma and depressive symptoms, and sustained psychological distress can cause smartphone addiction risk ( Montag and Elhai, 2020 ; Chen et al, 2021 ; Adachi et al, 2022 ) and lead to technology-related cognitive, emotional, and behavioral disorders, thus impacting psychological well-being. We integrate our review throughout research indicating that intensified negative emotionality is related to more smartphone addiction ( Caponnetto et al, 2021 ; Hu et al, 2021 , 2022 ; Sfeir et al, 2021 ; Marengo et al, 2022 ; de Freitas et al, 2022a ; Zhao et al, 2022a ), leading to addictive behavior development, whereas increased confidence and household crowding are associated with decreased smartphone addiction during the COVID-19 lockdown periods.…”

“…Smartphone addiction risk can configure pathological personality traits related to stress, anxiety, and depression (e.g., compulsive smartphone usage, depression psychopathology, and social anxiety). COVID-19 lockdown impacts mental health ( Montag and Elhai, 2020 ; Chen et al, 2021 ; Hodes and Thomas, 2021 ; Werling et al, 2021 ; Adachi et al, 2022 ; Sui et al, 2022 ) through an escalation in screen media use. As the chief reason of screen time increase has been the growing smartphone use, reduced deployment of digital devices have positive consequences on depressive symptoms.…”