Testing the Bidirectional Associations of Mobile Phone Addiction Behaviors With Mental Distress, Sleep Disturbances, and Sleep Patterns: A One-Year Prospective Study Among Chinese College Students

Abstract

Background: Mobile phone addiction behaviors (MPAB) are extensively associated with several mental and sleep problems. Only a limited number of bidirectional longitudinal papers have focused on this field. This study aimed to examine the bidirectional associations of MPAB with mental distress, sleep disturbances, and sleep patterns. Methods: A total of 940 and 902 (response rate: 95.9%) students participated at baseline and one-year follow-up, respectively. Self-reported severity of mobile phone addiction was measured using Mobile Phone Involvement Questionnaire (MPIQ). Mental distress was evaluated by using Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS). Sleep disturbances were assessed by using Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). Sleep patterns were evaluated by using reduced Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (rMEQ), weekday sleep duration, and weekend sleep duration. Results: Cross-lagged analyses revealed a higher total score of BDI, SAS, and ISI predicted a greater likelihood of subsequent MPAB, but not vice versa. We found the bidirectional longitudinal relationships between MPAB and the total score of PSQI and ESS. Besides, a higher score of MPIQ at baseline predicts a subsequent lower total score of rMEQ and shorter weekday sleep duration. Conclusions: The current study expands our understanding of causal relationships of MPAB with mental distress, sleep disturbances, and sleep patterns.

Longitudinal relationships among problematic mobile phone use, bedtime procrastination, sleep quality and depressive symptoms in Chinese college students: a cross-lagged panel analysis

“…Existing studies have focused on the longitudinal relationship between PMPU and depressive symptoms, but their results have been contradictory (i.e., the directionality is inconsistent). For example, a three-year follow-up study of 1877 Korean adolescents using autoregressive cross-lagged model analysis found a bidirectional longitudinal relationship between PMPU and depressive symptoms [37]; however, a longitudinal study in China found that depressive symptoms at baseline predicted follow-up PMPU, but PMPU at baseline did not predict follow-up depressive symptoms [38]. In light of these inconsistent findings, it is necessary to conduct a longitudinal study to further explore the association.…”

Reciprocal Relationships between Sleep Problems and Problematic Smartphone Use in Taiwan: Cross-Lagged Panel Study

“…Fourth, sleep problems were measured subjectively while sleep duration and other sleep patterns (e.g., irregular sleep-wake schedules and sleep onset latency) were not included in this study. Future researchers may consider examining the associations between these variables with problematic smartphone use among adolescents [ 14 ]. Fifth, we did not control for variables that may be correlated with sleep problems and problematic smartphone use such as psychological distress and academic stress [ 13 ].…”

“…To date, most studies on the relationships between sleep problems and problematic smartphone use have mainly utilized cross-sectional data [ 7 , 9 , 12 , 13 ]. Even though very few studies have used longitudinal data [ 14 ], these studies have failed to clarify the causal relationships between sleep problems and problematic smartphone use among teenagers. Therefore, whether sleep problems precede or result from problematic smartphone use is unclear.…”

The Evolutionarily Mismatched Impact of Urbanization on Insomnia Symptoms: a Short Review of the Recent Literature

“…This has compared very favorably with the relatively much fewer number of contrary findings in the recent literature (e.g., [ 69 •]). However, together with the presence of some mixed data focusing on how one’s dependency on a media platform/device could affect insomnia symptoms over a period of time (e.g., [ 70 , 71 ]), a much greater array of pertinent longitudinal research work is needed to ascertain the validity of the specific causal relationship between screen time and insomnia symptoms.…”