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Annals of General Psychiatry
Published in: Annals of General Psychiatry 1/2019

Open Access 01-12-2019 | Addiction | Primary research

The relationship between smartphone addiction and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity in South Korean adolescents

Authors: Seung-Gon Kim, Jong Park, Hun-Tae Kim, Zihang Pan, Yena Lee, Roger S. McIntyre

Published in: Annals of General Psychiatry | Issue 1/2019

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Abstract

Background

Excessive smartphone use has been associated with numerous psychiatric disorders. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of smartphone addiction and its association with depression, anxiety, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in a large sample of Korean adolescents.

Methods

A total of 4512 (2034 males and 2478 females) middle- and high-school students in South Korea were included in this study. Subjects were asked to complete a self-reported questionnaire, including measures of the Korean Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and Conners-Wells’ Adolescent Self-Report Scale (CASS). Smartphone addiction and non-addiction groups were defined using SAS score of 42 as a cut-off. The data were analyzed using multivariate logistic regression analyses.

Results

338 subjects (7.5%) were categorized to the addiction group. Total SAS score was positively correlated with total CASS score, BDI score, BAI score, female sex, smoking, and alcohol use. Using multivariate logistic regression analyses, the odds ratio of ADHD group compared to the non-ADHD group for smartphone addiction was 6.43, the highest among all variables (95% CI 4.60–9.00).

Conclusions

Our findings indicate that ADHD may be a significant risk factor for developing smartphone addiction. The neurobiological substrates subserving smartphone addiction may provide insights on to both shared and discrete mechanisms with other brain-based disorders.
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Metadata
Title
The relationship between smartphone addiction and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity in South Korean adolescents
Authors
Seung-Gon Kim
Jong Park
Hun-Tae Kim
Zihang Pan
Yena Lee
Roger S. McIntyre
Publication date
01-12-2019
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Annals of General Psychiatry / Issue 1/2019
Electronic ISSN: 1744-859X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12991-019-0224-8

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