A Scoping Review of the Association between Smartphone Use and Mental Health among College Students

A scoping review of the literature reporting on smartphone use and parameters of mental health from January 2008 to February 2018 was performed for the purpose of summarizing and describing current research findings regarding the association of smartphone use with anxiety, depression, stress, and sleep of college students. The study followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses for Protocols 2015 (PRISMA-P 2015) guidelines. Thirty-one articles met protocol criteria. Fifteen articles reported on studies of multiple mental healths related issues. Nineteen examined the association of smartphone use with anxiety, 19 examined depressions, eight examined sleep, and seven examined stress. Literature contained in this study indicated varied associations between problematic smartphone use and anxiety, depression, stress, and sleep. Consistent positive correlations were observed between problematic smartphone use, anxiety, stress and poor sleep. The correlations with depression were more disparate. The majority of studies were cross-sectional in nature and correlational. While existing research indicates correlations between problematic smartphone use and certain parameters of mental health, these associations should be studied further with research methodologies permitting more definitive conclusions regarding the links.