Suicidal Ideation Is Associated With Excessive Smartphone Use Among Chinese College Students

Qiuping Huang; Shuhong Lin; Ying Li; Shucai Huang; Zhenjiang Liao; Xinxin Chen; Tianli Shao; Yifan Li; Yi Cai; Jing Qi; Hongxian Shen

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2021.809463

Suicidal Ideation Is Associated With Excessive Smartphone Use Among Chinese College Students

Front Public Health. 2022 Jan 27:9:809463. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.809463. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Qiuping Huang^{1

2}, Shuhong Lin^{1

2}, Ying Li³, Shucai Huang⁴, Zhenjiang Liao^{1

2}, Xinxin Chen^{1

2}, Tianli Shao⁵, Yifan Li^{1

2}, Yi Cai⁵, Jing Qi⁶, Hongxian Shen^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China.
² Hunan Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Hunan Medical Center for Mental Health, Chinese National Technology Institute on Mental Disorders, Institute of Mental Health of Central South University, Changsha, China.
³ Changsha Health Vocational College, Changsha, China.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry, The Fourth People's Hospital of Wuhu, Wuhu, China.
⁵ Department of Psychiatry, Comorbid Somatic Diseases, Kangning Hospital of Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China.
⁶ Department of Clinical Psychology, Brain Hospital of Hunan Province, Changsha, China.

Abstract

Background: Suicidal ideation is the first step and a strong predictor of suicide. College students are at a considerably high risk of suicidal ideation, and smartphones are commonly used in this group. However, the relationship between suicidal ideation and smartphone use among Chinese college students is unclear. The current study aimed to investigate the prevalence of suicidal ideation among Chinese college students and its association with smartphone use and addiction factors.

Methods: A total of 439 college students participated the survey. We collected the demographic information, physical health, psychosocial factors (depressive symptoms, social support, sleep quality), characteristics of smartphone use, and mobile phone addiction (MPA). Suicidal ideation was measured with a single question, "did you feel that life was not worth living in the past 1 year?"

Results: The prevalence of suicidal ideation ("Yes" response) in the past year among Chinese college students was 7.5%. In binary logistic regression analysis, suicidal ideation was significantly correlated with less subjective social support (OR: 2.49, p = 0.049), lower utilization of social support (OR: 13.28, p = 0.012), more depressive symptoms (OR:4.96, p = 0.005), and more than 5 h of daily smartphone use (OR: 2.60, p = 0.025).

Conclusion: Considering the widely use of smartphones in Chinese colleges and the correlation with suicidal ideation, excessive phone use among college students should be given more attention by administrators and health workers. It is necessary to obtain more information about the intention of smartphone use, make full use of smartphones for health education, and monitor excessive use of smartphones, while improving social support and coping mechanisms for depression, to identify suicidal ideation and prevent suicidal behavior among Chinese college students.

Keywords: college students; mobile phone addiction; smartphone use; social support; suicidal ideation.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

China / epidemiology
Humans
Smartphone*
Students / psychology
Suicidal Ideation*
Universities