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Depression and Anxiety - 2025 - Bild - Effects of Smartphone Use on Sleep and Mental Health in Young Adults Going Beyond423.11 kB
Published VersionCC BY V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Effects of Smartphone Use on Sleep and Mental Health in Young Adults: Going Beyond Self‐Report
Depression and Anxiety, Vol.2025(1), pp.1-11
2025
Abstract
Background
Poor sleep has been associated with mental health concerns such as anxiety and depression. Prior evidence suggests that smartphone use may be a factor in poor sleep and mental ill-health in young adults, though most studies have relied on self-reported measures of smartphone use and sleep, which can be unreliable. This study used objective and subjective measures to examine the relationship between time spent using smartphones, sleep duration, quality, regularity, and symptoms of depression and anxiety in a sample of self-selected poor sleepers.
Methods
Participants (N = 99; 70.7% female) wore an actigraph for 2 weeks to assess their habitual nightly sleep duration and regularity. Their average daily smartphone screen use was collected over 1 week with a smartphone application. Standardized questionnaires were used to assess sleep quality and mental health symptoms.
Results
No statistically significant associations were found between objective smartphone screen use and any sleep or mental health variables. Sleep disturbance, sleep-related daytime impairment, anxiety, and depression were positively correlated. However, regression models identified that only sleep-related daytime impairment explained unique variance in anxiety and depression when adjusted for sleep disturbance and duration, gender, age, and screen time.
Limitations
Specific timing of smartphone screen use (e.g., evening use) and/or application content were not collected as part of this study.
Conclusions
These results conflict with prior evidence demonstrating negative relationships between self-reported smartphone screen use, sleep, and mental health. Further research incorporating objective measurement of smartphone screen use, focusing on critical periods for sleep, may provide a more nuanced picture of this relationship. Results also demonstrate the differing roles of night-time sleep disturbance and daytime sleep-related impairment in mental health.
Trial Registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry number: ACTRN12621000132842
Details
- Title
- Effects of Smartphone Use on Sleep and Mental Health in Young Adults: Going Beyond Self‐Report
- Authors
- Elena Bild (Corresponding Author) - The University of QueenslandKalina R Rossa - The University of QueenslandShannon L Edmed - The University of QueenslandCassandra L Pattinson - The University of QueenslandDwayne L Mann - The University of QueenslandKaren A Sullivan - Queensland University of TechnologyPaul M Salmon - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Centre for Human Factors and Systems ScienceSylistah Gadam - The University of QueenslandArvind Gnani Srinivasan - The University of QueenslandSimon S Smith - The University of Queensland
- Publication details
- Depression and Anxiety, Vol.2025(1), pp.1-11
- Publisher
- John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
- Date published
- 2025
- DOI
- 10.1155/da/3249012
- ISSN
- 1520-6394; 1091-4269
- Copyright note
- Copyright © 2025 Elena Bild et al. Depression and Anxiety published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
- Data Availability
- The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
- Grants
- Organisation Unit
- Centre for Human Factors and Systems Science
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991184179002621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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