Frequency of Text Messaging and Adolescents' Mental Health Symptoms Across 4 Years of High School.

Autor: George MJ; Department of Psychological Sciences, College of Health and Human Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. Electronic address: georg107@purdue.edu., Beron K; School of Economic, Political, and Policy Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, Texas., Vollet JW; School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, Texas., Burnell K; Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina., Ehrenreich SE; College of Education and Human Development, University of Nevada at Reno, Reno, Nevada., Underwood MK; Department of Psychological Sciences, College of Health and Human Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine [J Adolesc Health] 2021 Feb; Vol. 68 (2), pp. 324-330. Date of Electronic Publication: 2020 Aug 01.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.06.012
Abstrakt: Purpose: The aim of the study was to examine the concurrent and longitudinal associations between adolescents' text messaging frequency and mental health symptoms across 4 years of high school.
Methods: A total of 203 adolescents (aged 14-18 years) consented and were provided smartphones across 4 years of high school. Using billing records, daily frequencies of text messaging were created for each year. Adolescents reported on their mental health symptoms (internalizing, externalizing, social problems, and inattention) each summer.
Results: Multilevel analyses tested the between- and within-person associations between texting and mental health symptoms. Between-person analyses revealed an association only between externalizing symptoms and texting. Girls who texted more (vs. less) frequently reported more externalizing and inattention symptoms, whereas there were no significant associations for boys. There were no significant within-person concurrent associations between texting and symptoms. Autoregressive latent cross-lagged model with structured residuals testing the longitudinal, bidirectional associations also did not find significant relations across 4 years of adolescence.
Conclusions: Across analyses, few robust associations emerged. Adolescent girls who text messaged more frequently reported greater externalizing and inattention symptoms. Contrasting the popular narrative that smartphones cause depression, this study did not find any consistent within-person or longitudinal associations between texting and mental health symptoms across adolescence. Research on the content, rather than quantity, of texts and device use is necessary to understand the potential effects on development.
(Copyright © 2020 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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