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Associations Between Online Learning, Smartphone Addiction Problems, and Psychological Symptoms in Chinese College Students After the COVID-19 Pandemic

BACKGROUND: Smartphone-based online education gained popularity during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Although recent studies have highlighted the association between problematic smartphone use (PSU) and mental health symptoms, the potential role of online learning in this relationship remains unc...

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Autores principales: Zhang, Chi, Hao, Jinjuan, Liu, Ye, Cui, Ju, Yu, Hao
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9114473/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35602144
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.881074
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author Zhang, Chi
Hao, Jinjuan
Liu, Ye
Cui, Ju
Yu, Hao
author_facet Zhang, Chi
Hao, Jinjuan
Liu, Ye
Cui, Ju
Yu, Hao
author_sort Zhang, Chi
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Smartphone-based online education gained popularity during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Although recent studies have highlighted the association between problematic smartphone use (PSU) and mental health symptoms, the potential role of online learning in this relationship remains unclear. This study aimed to analyze the relationships between higher education modes, PSU, and related psychological symptoms in university students. METHODS: A total of 1,629 Chinese university students from five provinces completed a web-based questionnaire survey between March 2020 and October 2021. Demographic characteristics and learning conditions were recorded. All participants completed the Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version, Patient Health Questionnaire, Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale, and Athens Insomnia Scale. Multiple regressions models and stratified analyses were used to examine the association between online education mode, PSU, and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and insomnia. RESULTS: The prevalence of PSU was 58.5%. Students who relied primarily on online learning had a higher prevalence of depressive symptoms (29.95% vs. 22.24%), anxiety symptoms (25.13% vs. 18.91%), and insomnia symptoms (75.89% vs. 70.27%) than those who relied on traditional face-to-face learning (Ps < 0.05). After adjusting for covariates, subjects with PSU were more likely to report depressive symptoms (AdjOR = 3.14, 95% CI = 2.26–4.37), anxiety symptoms (AdjOR = 3.73, 95% CI = 2.13–4.59), and insomnia symptoms (AdjOR = 2.96, 95% CI = 2.23–3.92) than those without PSU. Furthermore, the associations of PSU with depressive symptoms (OR = 4.66 vs. 2.33, P for interaction = 0.015) and anxiety symptoms (OR = 6.05 vs. 2.94, P for interaction = 0.021) were more pronounced in the online learning group. CONCLUSION: Our study provides preliminary evidence that Chinese university students have serious smartphone addiction problems, which are associated with depressive, anxiety, and insomnia symptoms. Online learning is found to exacerbate PSU and mental health problems. Our findings provide valuable information for targeted psychological interventions in the post-COVID-19 era.
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spelling pubmed-91144732022-05-19 Associations Between Online Learning, Smartphone Addiction Problems, and Psychological Symptoms in Chinese College Students After the COVID-19 Pandemic Zhang, Chi Hao, Jinjuan Liu, Ye Cui, Ju Yu, Hao Front Public Health Public Health BACKGROUND: Smartphone-based online education gained popularity during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Although recent studies have highlighted the association between problematic smartphone use (PSU) and mental health symptoms, the potential role of online learning in this relationship remains unclear. This study aimed to analyze the relationships between higher education modes, PSU, and related psychological symptoms in university students. METHODS: A total of 1,629 Chinese university students from five provinces completed a web-based questionnaire survey between March 2020 and October 2021. Demographic characteristics and learning conditions were recorded. All participants completed the Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version, Patient Health Questionnaire, Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale, and Athens Insomnia Scale. Multiple regressions models and stratified analyses were used to examine the association between online education mode, PSU, and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and insomnia. RESULTS: The prevalence of PSU was 58.5%. Students who relied primarily on online learning had a higher prevalence of depressive symptoms (29.95% vs. 22.24%), anxiety symptoms (25.13% vs. 18.91%), and insomnia symptoms (75.89% vs. 70.27%) than those who relied on traditional face-to-face learning (Ps < 0.05). After adjusting for covariates, subjects with PSU were more likely to report depressive symptoms (AdjOR = 3.14, 95% CI = 2.26–4.37), anxiety symptoms (AdjOR = 3.73, 95% CI = 2.13–4.59), and insomnia symptoms (AdjOR = 2.96, 95% CI = 2.23–3.92) than those without PSU. Furthermore, the associations of PSU with depressive symptoms (OR = 4.66 vs. 2.33, P for interaction = 0.015) and anxiety symptoms (OR = 6.05 vs. 2.94, P for interaction = 0.021) were more pronounced in the online learning group. CONCLUSION: Our study provides preliminary evidence that Chinese university students have serious smartphone addiction problems, which are associated with depressive, anxiety, and insomnia symptoms. Online learning is found to exacerbate PSU and mental health problems. Our findings provide valuable information for targeted psychological interventions in the post-COVID-19 era. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-05-04 /pmc/articles/PMC9114473/ /pubmed/35602144 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.881074 Text en Copyright © 2022 Zhang, Hao, Liu, Cui and Yu. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Public Health
Zhang, Chi
Hao, Jinjuan
Liu, Ye
Cui, Ju
Yu, Hao
Associations Between Online Learning, Smartphone Addiction Problems, and Psychological Symptoms in Chinese College Students After the COVID-19 Pandemic
title Associations Between Online Learning, Smartphone Addiction Problems, and Psychological Symptoms in Chinese College Students After the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_full Associations Between Online Learning, Smartphone Addiction Problems, and Psychological Symptoms in Chinese College Students After the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_fullStr Associations Between Online Learning, Smartphone Addiction Problems, and Psychological Symptoms in Chinese College Students After the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_full_unstemmed Associations Between Online Learning, Smartphone Addiction Problems, and Psychological Symptoms in Chinese College Students After the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_short Associations Between Online Learning, Smartphone Addiction Problems, and Psychological Symptoms in Chinese College Students After the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_sort associations between online learning, smartphone addiction problems, and psychological symptoms in chinese college students after the covid-19 pandemic
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9114473/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35602144
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.881074
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