Abstract
Problematic mobile phone use (PMPU) is a risk factor for both adolescents’ sleep quality and mental health. It is important to examine the potential negative health effects of PMPU exposure. This study aims to evaluate PMPU and its association with mental health in Chinese college students. Furthermore, we investigated how sleep quality influences this association. In 2013, we collected data regarding participants’ PMPU, sleep quality, and mental health (psychopathological symptoms, anxiety, and depressive symptoms) by standardized questionnaires in 4747 college students. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was applied to assess independent effects and interactions of PMPU and sleep quality with mental health. PMPU and poor sleep quality were observed in 28.2% and 9.8% of participants, respectively. Adjusted logistic regression models suggested independent associations of PMPU and sleep quality with mental health (p < 0.001). Further regression analyses suggested a significant interaction between these measures (p < 0.001). The study highlights that poor sleep quality may play a more significant role in increasing the risk of mental health problems in students with PMPU than in those without PMPU.
Highlights
We have detected the multi-collinearity for the variables, and the results showed that the variance inflation factors (VIF) were less than 2, the values of tolerance were less than 1, and the condition index was less than 4, which indicated that multicollinearity was not existent. p-values < 0.05 were considered as statistically significant
There was a near sex-based significance for anxiety (p = 0.065) and the results were not being significantly different for depressive symptoms (p = 0.594)
The results suggested that Problematic mobile phone use (PMPU) was positively related to psychopathological symptoms, anxiety, and depression
Summary
Problematic Mobile Phone Use. There has been rapid development and increasingly widespread use of mobile phones. Despite its advantages of convenience and practicability, excessive use has been associated with potential risks in people’s life. Problematic mobile phone use (PMPU) is not a new term and it is defined as an inability to regulate one’s use of the mobile phone, which involves negative consequences in daily life [1]. The prevalence of PMPU does not seem to be negligible, for example, it affects 16% of middle school students in Korean [2] and 26% in a Tunisian population [3]. Res. Public Health 2017, 14, 185; doi:10.3390/ijerph14020185 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
