The association between problematic cellular phone use and risky behaviors and low self-esteem among Taiwanese adolescents

BMC Public Health

Research Article

Yuan-Sheng Yang¹  Ju-Yu Yen²  Chih-Hung Ko²  Cheng-Fang Yen³  Chung-Ping Cheng⁴ 

[1] Department of Psychiatry, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Tzyou 1st Rd., 807, Kaohsiung, Taiwan;Department of Psychiatry, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Tzyou 1st Rd., 807, Kaohsiung, Taiwan;Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Chih-Chuan 1st Rd., 807, Kaohsiung, Taiwan;Department of Psychiatry, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Tzyou 1st Rd., 807, Kaohsiung, Taiwan;Graduate Institute of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan;Department of Psychology, National Chung Cheng University, 168 University Road, Minhsiung Township, 62102, Chiayi County, Taiwan;

关键词: Illicit Drug;    Risky Behavior;    Cellular Phone;    Criminal Record;    Adolescent Group;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2458-10-217

 received in 2009-09-17, accepted in 2010-04-28,  发布年份 2010

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundCellular phone use (CPU) is an important part of life for many adolescents. However, problematic CPU may complicate physiological and psychological problems. The aim of our study was to examine the associations between problematic CPU and a series of risky behaviors and low self-esteem in Taiwanese adolescents.MethodsA total of 11,111 adolescent students in Southern Taiwan were randomly selected into this study. We used the Problematic Cellular Phone Use Questionnaire to identify the adolescents with problematic CPU. Meanwhile, a series of risky behaviors and self-esteem were evaluated. Multilevel logistic regression analyses were employed to examine the associations between problematic CPU and risky behaviors and low self-esteem regarding gender and age.ResultsThe results indicated that positive associations were found between problematic CPU and aggression, insomnia, smoking cigarettes, suicidal tendencies, and low self-esteem in all groups with different sexes and ages. However, gender and age differences existed in the associations between problematic CPU and suspension from school, criminal records, tattooing, short nocturnal sleep duration, unprotected sex, illicit drugs use, drinking alcohol and chewing betel nuts.ConclusionsThere were positive associations between problematic CPU and a series of risky behaviors and low self-esteem in Taiwanese adolescents. It is worthy for parents and mental health professionals to pay attention to adolescents' problematic CPU.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Yang et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2010. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.