Associations between problem technology use, life stress, and self-esteem among high school students

• Published in: BMC public health Vol. 24; no. 1; p. 492
• Main Authors: Idrees, Blal, Sampasa-Kanyinga, Hugues, Hamilton, Hayley A, Chaput, Jean-Philippe
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 16.02.2024; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Adolescents; Alcohol; Body mass index; Body size; Cannabis; Care and treatment; Child development; Cigarette smoking; Computer; Critical period; Diagnosis; Females; Health aspects; Health surveys; High school students; Laptop; Males; Marijuana; Mental disorders; Mental health; Problematic internet use; Psychological aspects; Regression analysis; Regression models; Risk factors; School boards; Screen; Secondary school students; Secondary schools; Self esteem; Sex differences; Smartphone; Social aspects; Socioeconomic factors; Socioeconomic status; Socioeconomics; Stress; Stress (Psychology); Students; Surveys; Tablet; Technology; Teenagers; Tobacco; Canada; Laptop; Screen; Mental health; Problematic internet use; Computer; Self-worth; Tablet; Adolescents; Pressure; Smartphone; Strain
• ISSN: 1471-2458; 1471-2458
• DOI: 10.1186/s12889-024-17963-7

Adolescence is a critical period for development, with many risk factors resulting in long-term health consequences, particularly regarding mental health. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between problem technology use, life stress, and self-esteem in a representative sample of adolescents residing in Ontario, Canada. Self-reported data were obtained from a cross-sectional sample of 4,748 students (57.9% females) in grades 9 to 12 (mean age: 15.9 ± 1.3 years) who participated in the 2019 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey. Problem technology use was measured using the 6-item Short Problem Internet Use Test, life stress was assessed using an item from the British Columbia Adolescent Health Survey and self-esteem was assessed using a global measure from the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Ordinal logistic regression models were adjusted for age, sex, ethnoracial background, subjective socioeconomic status, body mass index z-score, tobacco cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption and cannabis use. We found that 18.3% of participants reported symptoms of moderate-to-high problem technology use, although symptoms were more common in females than males (22% vs. 14.7%, respectively). Moderate-to-high problem technology use was associated with 2.04 (95% CI: 1.77-2.35) times higher odds of reporting high life stress and 2.08 (95% CI: 1.76-2.45) times higher odds of reporting low self-esteem compared to all other response options. Findings from this study show that problem technology use is strongly associated with higher life stress and lower self-esteem in adolescents. This study supports the importance of developing and implementing effective strategies that help to mitigate the adverse effects of problem technology use on adolescent mental health.