Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
BMC Public Health. 2011 Jan 31;11:66. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-11-66.
Because of the quick development and widespread use of mobile phones, and their vast effect on communication and interactions, it is important to study possible negative health effects of mobile phone exposure. The overall aim of this study was to investigate whether there are associations between psychosocial aspects of mobile phone use and mental health symptoms in a prospective cohort of young adults.
The study group consisted of young adults 20-24 years old (n = 4156), who responded to a questionnaire at baseline and 1-year follow-up. Mobile phone exposure variables included frequency of use, but also more qualitative variables: demands on availability, perceived stressfulness of accessibility, being awakened at night by the mobile phone, and personal overuse of the mobile phone. Mental health outcomes included current stress, sleep disorders, and symptoms of depression. Prevalence ratios (PRs) were calculated for cross-sectional and prospective associations between exposure variables and mental health outcomes for men and women separately.
There were cross-sectional associations between high compared to low mobile phone use and stress, sleep disturbances, and symptoms of depression for the men and women. When excluding respondents reporting mental health symptoms at baseline, high mobile phone use was associated with sleep disturbances and symptoms of depression for the men and symptoms of depression for the women at 1-year follow-up. All qualitative variables had cross-sectional associations with mental health outcomes. In prospective analysis, overuse was associated with stress and sleep disturbances for women, and high accessibility stress was associated with stress, sleep disturbances, and symptoms of depression for both men and women.
High frequency of mobile phone use at baseline was a risk factor for mental health outcomes at 1-year follow-up among the young adults. The risk for reporting mental health symptoms at follow-up was greatest among those who had perceived accessibility via mobile phones to be stressful. Public health prevention strategies focusing on attitudes could include information and advice, helping young adults to set limits for their own and others' accessibility.
由于手机的快速发展和广泛应用，以及它们对沟通和互动的广泛影响，研究手机暴露可能对健康产生的负面影响很重要。本研究的总体目的是调查在年轻成年人的前瞻性队列中，手机使用的社会心理方面与心理健康症状之间是否存在关联。
研究组由 20-24 岁的年轻人（n=4156）组成，他们在基线和 1 年随访时回答了一份问卷。手机暴露变量包括使用频率，还包括更定性的变量：可用性的要求、可访问性的感知压力、夜间被手机唤醒以及个人过度使用手机。心理健康结果包括当前压力、睡眠障碍和抑郁症状。为了分别计算男性和女性暴露变量与心理健康结果之间的横断面和前瞻性关联，计算了患病率比（PR）。
男性和女性中，与低手机使用相比，高手机使用与压力、睡眠障碍和抑郁症状存在横断面关联。当排除基线报告有心理健康症状的受访者时，高手机使用与男性的睡眠障碍和抑郁症状以及女性的抑郁症状在 1 年随访时相关。所有定性变量与心理健康结果均存在横断面关联。在前瞻性分析中，过度使用与女性的压力和睡眠障碍相关，而高可访问性压力与男性和女性的压力、睡眠障碍和抑郁症状相关。
基线时高频率使用手机是年轻成年人在 1 年随访时心理健康结果的一个危险因素。那些认为通过手机访问是有压力的人，报告随访时出现心理健康症状的风险最大。关注态度的公共卫生预防策略可能包括信息和建议，帮助年轻人为自己和他人设定可访问性的限制。
