A paper co-authored by Sam Chamberlain (Psychiatry) suggests that excessive use of mobile phones by students could be related to lower grades, drinking problems and more sexual partners.
 
The collaborative project with the Universities of Chicago and Minnesota in the USA, and Cambridge, looked at 3,425 US university students who were asked to complete a 156-item survey to assess their mental health and well-being. The researchers also measured the students’ problematic smartphone usage, their current use of alcohol and drugs, psychological and physical status, and academic performance.
 
The findings, published in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions, showed that 20 percent of the participants reported problematic smartphone use, with 64 percent of problem users found to be female. The students who reported problematic smartphone use were more likely to have lower grade point averages, more likely to misuse alcohol and were significantly associated with lower self-esteem, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
 
This research highlights the importance of clinicians enquiring about excessive smartphone use, as it may be associated with a range of mental health issues.