Computer use and stress, sleep disturbances, and symptoms of depression among young adults – a prospective cohort study

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Abstract

Background

We have previously studied prospective associations between computer use and mental health symptoms in a selected young adult population. The purpose of this study was to investigate if high computer use is a prospective risk factor for developing mental health symptoms in a population-based sample of young adults.

Methods

The study group was a cohort of young adults (n = 4163), 20–24 years old, who responded to a questionnaire at baseline and 1-year follow-up. Exposure variables included time spent on computer use (CU) in general, email/chat use, computer gaming, CU without breaks, and CU at night causing lost sleep. Mental health outcomes included perceived stress, sleep disturbances, symptoms of depression, and reduced performance due to stress, depressed mood, or tiredness. Prevalence ratios (PRs) were calculated for prospective associations between exposure variables at baseline and mental health outcomes (new cases) at 1-year follow-up for the men and women separately.

Results

Both high and medium computer use compared to low computer use at baseline were associated with sleep disturbances in the men at follow-up. High email/chat use was negatively associated with perceived stress, but positively associated with reported sleep disturbances for the men. For the women, high email/chat use was (positively) associated with several mental health outcomes, while medium computer gaming was associated with symptoms of depression, and CU without breaks with most mental health outcomes. CU causing lost sleep was associated with mental health outcomes for both men and women.

Conclusions

Time spent on general computer use was prospectively associated with sleep disturbances and reduced performance for the men. For the women, using the computer without breaks was a risk factor for several mental health outcomes. Some associations were enhanced in interaction with mobile phone use. Using the computer at night and consequently losing sleep was associated with most mental health outcomes for both men and women. Further studies should focus on mechanisms relating information and communication technology (ICT) use to sleep disturbances.

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Most cited references 30

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Mobile phone use and stress, sleep disturbances, and symptoms of depression among young adults - a prospective cohort study

Sara Thomée, Annika Härenstam, Mats Hagberg (2011)

Background Because of the quick development and widespread use of mobile phones, and their vast effect on communication and interactions, it is important to study possible negative health effects of mobile phone exposure. The overall aim of this study was to investigate whether there are associations between psychosocial aspects of mobile phone use and mental health symptoms in a prospective cohort of young adults. Methods The study group consisted of young adults 20-24 years old (n = 4156), who responded to a questionnaire at baseline and 1-year follow-up. Mobile phone exposure variables included frequency of use, but also more qualitative variables: demands on availability, perceived stressfulness of accessibility, being awakened at night by the mobile phone, and personal overuse of the mobile phone. Mental health outcomes included current stress, sleep disorders, and symptoms of depression. Prevalence ratios (PRs) were calculated for cross-sectional and prospective associations between exposure variables and mental health outcomes for men and women separately. Results There were cross-sectional associations between high compared to low mobile phone use and stress, sleep disturbances, and symptoms of depression for the men and women. When excluding respondents reporting mental health symptoms at baseline, high mobile phone use was associated with sleep disturbances and symptoms of depression for the men and symptoms of depression for the women at 1-year follow-up. All qualitative variables had cross-sectional associations with mental health outcomes. In prospective analysis, overuse was associated with stress and sleep disturbances for women, and high accessibility stress was associated with stress, sleep disturbances, and symptoms of depression for both men and women. Conclusions High frequency of mobile phone use at baseline was a risk factor for mental health outcomes at 1-year follow-up among the young adults. The risk for reporting mental health symptoms at follow-up was greatest among those who had perceived accessibility via mobile phones to be stressful. Public health prevention strategies focusing on attitudes could include information and advice, helping young adults to set limits for their own and others' accessibility.

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Case-finding instruments for depression. Two questions are as good as many.

M A Whooley, A Avins, J. Miranda … (1997)

To determine the validity of a two-question case-finding instrument for depression as compared with six previously validated instruments. The test characteristics of a two-question case-finding instrument that asks about depressed mood and anhedonia were compared with six common case-finding instruments, using the Quick Diagnostic Interview Schedule as a criterion standard for the diagnosis of major depression. Urgent care clinic at the San Francisco Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Five hundred thirty-six consecutive adult patients without mania or schizophrenia. Measurements were two questions from the Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders patient questionnaire, both the long and short forms of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, both the long and short forms of the Book Depression Inventory, the Symptom-Driven Diagnostic System for Primary Care, the Medical Outcomes Study depression measure, and the Quick Diagnostic Interview Schedule. The prevalence of depression, as determined by the standardized interview, was 18% (97 of 536). Overall, the case-finding instruments had sensitivities of 89% to 96% and specificities of 51% to 72% for diagnosing major depression. A positive response to the two-item instrument had a sensitivity of 96% (95% confidence interval [CI], 90-99%) and a specificity of 57% (95% CI 53-62%). Areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves were similar for all of the instruments, with a range of 0.82 to 0.89. The two-question case-finding instrument is a useful measure for detecting depression in primary care. It has similar test characteristics to other case-finding instruments and is less time-consuming.

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Utility of a new procedure for diagnosing mental disorders in primary care. The PRIME-MD 1000 study.

R L Spitzer, J. Williams, K Kroenke … (1994)

To assess the validity and utility of PRIME-MD (Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders), a new rapid procedure for diagnosing mental disorders by primary care physicians. Survey; criterion standard. Four primary care clinics. A total of 1000 adult patients (369 selected by convenience and 631 selected by site-specific methods to avoid sampling bias) assessed by 31 primary care physicians. PRIME-MD diagnoses, independent diagnoses made by mental health professionals, functional status measures (Short-Form General Health Survey), disability days, health care utilization, and treatment/referral decisions. Twenty-six percent of the patients had a PRIME-MD diagnosis that met full criteria for a specific disorder according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Revised Third Edition. The average time required of the primary care physician to complete the PRIME-MD evaluation was 8.4 minutes. There was good agreement between PRIME-MD diagnoses and those of independent mental health professionals (for the diagnosis of any PRIME-MD disorder, kappa = 0.71; overall accuracy rate = 88%). Patients with PRIME-MD diagnoses had lower functioning, more disability days, and higher rates of health care utilization than did patients without PRIME-MD diagnoses (for all measures, P < .005). Nearly half (48%) of 287 patients with a PRIME-MD diagnosis who were somewhat or fairly well-known to their physicians had not been recognized to have that diagnosis before the PRIME-MD evaluation. A new treatment or referral was initiated for 62% of the 125 patients with a PRIME-MD diagnosis who were not already being treated. PRIME-MD appears to be a useful tool for identifying mental disorders in primary care practice and research.

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Author and article information

Contributors

Sara Thomée

Annika Härenstam

Mats Hagberg

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): BMC Psychiatry

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): BMC Psychiatry

Title: BMC Psychiatry

Publisher: BioMed Central

ISSN (Electronic): 1471-244X

Publication date Collection: 2012

Publication date (Electronic): 22 October 2012

Volume: 12

Page: 176

Affiliations

[1 ]Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

[2 ]Department of Work Science, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

Article

Publisher ID: 1471-244X-12-176

DOI: 10.1186/1471-244X-12-176

PMC ID: 3528646

PubMed ID: 23088719

SO-VID: d2964188-e1bb-4913-b943-a46a28929e51

License:

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.

Computer use and stress, sleep disturbances, and symptoms of depression among young adults – a prospective cohort study

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Most cited references 30

Mobile phone use and stress, sleep disturbances, and symptoms of depression among young adults - a prospective cohort study

Case-finding instruments for depression. Two questions are as good as many.

Utility of a new procedure for diagnosing mental disorders in primary care. The PRIME-MD 1000 study.

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