Abstract
BackgroundUse of mobile phones has rapidly risen among adolescents despite a lack of scientific certainty on their health risks. Risk perception is an important determinant of behavior, and studies on adolescents’ risk perceptions of mobile phones or base stations are very scarce. This study aims to evaluate high school students’ risk perceptions on mobile phones and base stations, their trust to authorities, their opinions regarding incivility while using mobile phones and to assess associated factors.MethodsFor this cross-sectional study, 2530 students were chosen with stratified cluster sampling among 20,493 high school students studying in Bornova district of Izmir, Turkey, among whom 2240 (88.5%) participated. Risk perceptions and opinions were questioned with a 5-point Likert scale for 24 statements grouped under four dimensions. The mean responses to the four dimensions were categorized as <3.5 (low) and ≥3.5 (high) and the determinants were analyzed with logistic regression.ResultsMean risk perception scores for the mobile phone, base station, trust to authority and incivility dimensions were 3.69 ± 0.89, 4.34 ± 0.78, 3.77 ± 0.93, 3.16 ± 0.93 and the prevalence of high risk perception was 65.1%, 86.7%, 66.2%, 39.7%, respectively. In the mobile phone dimension; students attending industrial technical high school had lower risk perceptions while female students, lower mothers’ education groups and students not using mobile phones (OR = 2.82, 95% CI = 1.80-4.40) had higher risk perceptions. In the base station dimension girls had higher risk perceptions (OR = 1.68, 95% CI = 1.20-2.37). Girls and students attending industrial technical high school had significantly lower risk perception however 11-12th grade group perceived the risk higher (OR = 1.45 95% CI = 1.15-1.84) in the trust to authority dimension. For the incivility dimension, female students (OR = 1.44, 95% CI = 1.14-1.82), illiterate/only literate mothers (OR = 1.79, 95% CI = 1.04-2.75) and students not using mobile phones (OR = 2.50, 95% CI = 1.62-3.87) perceived higher risk.ConclusionsUnderstanding the effects of these determinants might aid in developing more effective educational interventions to specific subgroups on this topic. As debates on the health consequences of electromagnetic fields continue, it would be cautious to approach this issue with a preventive perspective. Efforts should be made to equalize the varying level of knowledge and to ensure that students are informed accurately.
Highlights
Use of mobile phones has rapidly risen among adolescents despite a lack of scientific certainty on their health risks
As carcinogenesis might need a longer period like 20–30 years, the currently negative findings do not implicate the absence of risk and International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has recently classified mobile phone-related radiofrequency radiation (RFR) as group 2B carcinogen, i.e. possibly carcinogenic to humans based on an increased risk for glioma associated with wireless phone use [11]
The present study aims to evaluate the risk perception on cell phone use and base stations, their trust to authorities and their opinions on incivility in using mobile phones and to assess the associated factors, among high school students in the Bornova district of Izmir
Summary
Use of mobile phones has rapidly risen among adolescents despite a lack of scientific certainty on their health risks. As carcinogenesis might need a longer period like 20–30 years, the currently negative findings do not implicate the absence of risk and International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has recently classified mobile phone-related RFRs as group 2B carcinogen, i.e. possibly carcinogenic to humans (limited evidence of carcinogenity in humans and less than sufficient evidence in experimental animals) based on an increased risk for glioma associated with wireless phone use [11]. Children and adolescents start to use mobile phones at an earlier age compared to adults, in a period when the plasticity of their brain continues [12]. A recent study has found an increased risk of glioma among people who had started to use mobile phones under the age of 20 [15]
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