Research In Action

Today's Flashback Friday post is inspired by a review article recently published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry that analyzed a variety of data from previous meta-analyses, large-scale public access surveys and preregistered studies, as well as studies of daily assessments of digital technology usage among youth to understand associations between adolescent mental health and digital technology use.

Here are some key highlights and findings from this review article in regard to the link between adolescent depression and digital technology use:

• Associations between adolescents who report more depressive symptoms and those who report spending more time online vary in direction (studies find both positive and negative links); but, these associations are generally too small to be clinically meaningful, especially when accounting for other factors which may increase the frequency of depressive symptoms.
• Studies to date are generally unable to distinguish cause and effect relationships between digital technology use and depressive symptoms/well-being. 
• Recent reviews of studies found that many youth with depressive symptoms may be spending more time online to help themselves feel better or to get more helpful information.

Read these previous blog posts:

• It's All About Balance: Navigating the Pros and Cons of Smartphones for Teens and Children -- Learn about the competing dangers and benefits of smartphones for teens and children and how parents can help them manage their screen time appropriately.
• Novel Measures of Cell Phone Use While Driving -- Learn about a CIRP/Penn Nursing study, published in Health Education and Behavior, that examined novel measures of cell phone use while driving to better understand how and at what speeds adolescents use their cell phone while driving.
• Working Toward a Web-Based Intervention to Reduce Adolescent Driver Inattention -- Learn about research being conducted at CHOP and Penn Nursing to help reduce teen driver distraction that was published in the Journal of School Nursing.

Learn about distracted driving prevention research:

• Listen to a podcast on distracted driving prevention featuring Catherine C. McDonald, PhD, RN, FAAN.

• Click here to learn about CIRP@CHOP's distracted driving research.