Exercise intervention to reduce mobile phone addiction in adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Zuxian Li; Xue Xia; Qilong Sun; Yansong Li

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1294116

Exercise intervention to reduce mobile phone addiction in adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Front Psychol. 2023 Dec 13:14:1294116. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1294116. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Zuxian Li¹, Xue Xia², Qilong Sun³, Yansong Li¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Physical Education, Qingdao University, Qingdao, China.
² School of Social Development and Health Management, University of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Qingdao, China.
³ Liaocheng Infant Normal School, Liaocheng, China.

Abstract

Background: The growing problem of adolescent mobile phone addiction has attracted significant attention, underscoring the importance of identifying approaches to address it. Exercise has been found to reduce adolescent mobile phone addiction; however, its mechanism remains unclear. This review aims to elucidate the potential moderating factors between exercise and mobile phone addiction based on previous studies to provide a reference for adolescents to effectively participate in exercise to reduce mobile phone addiction.

Methods: Articles were searched in the CNKI, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane, PsycINFO, and PubMed databases according to the inclusion criteria and followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Assessment and Meta-analysis (PRISMA). The quality of the literature was assessed by two independent reviewers using the Cochrane Collaboration Risk of Bias tool for methodological quality assessment. Meta-analysis was performed using Stata 15.1 software for Meta-analysis, standardized mean difference (SMD) was combined using a random effects model, and subgroup analysis was used to explore heterogeneity.

Results: A total of 12 studies, 17 samples, and 861 subjects were included in the meta-analysis, and all studies were randomized controlled trials. The findings revealed that the exercise intervention significantly reduced mobile phone addiction in adolescents (SMD = -3.11; 95% CI: -3.91, -2.30; p < 0.001). The intervention effect was moderated by multiple variables, such as the measurement tools, exercise intervention types, cycles, frequency, and duration of a single exercise intervention.

Conclusion: Our findings suggest that exercise could serve as an effective strategy for preventing or ameliorating mobile phone addiction in adolescents. Based on the results of this study, we encourage mobile phone-addicted adolescents to engage in a single exercise using a mix of skills for 30-60 min three or more times weekly for more than eight consecutive weeks.

Keywords: adolescent; exercise; meta-analysis; mobile phone addiction; randomized controlled trial.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by Qingdao Social Science Planning Research Project (No. QDSKL2301063), National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 32300921), and project 23-2-1-32-zyyd-jch supported by Qingdao Natural Science Foundation.