JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Previous studies have reported that there may be a negative correlation between mobile phone addiction (MPA) and physical activity (PA) among adolescents and young adults. However, the strength of the correlation is unclear.

Objective:

The review and meta-analysis aim to synthesize available empirical studies to examine the correlations between MPA and PA among adolescents and young adults. The study also aims to examine several priori-determined potential moderators (e.g., time of data collection, country or region, and type of population) of the relationship between MPA and PA.

Methods:

Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analyses guidelines, four electronic databases including PubMed, Scopus, PsycINFO, and Web of Science are used in the search process from database inception to March 2022. The methodological quality of the included cross-sectional studies is assessed by using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale.

Results:

In total, 892 articles are screened, 18 included for a qualitative review, and 13 are used in the final meta-analyses. All of the included studies are high in quality with a low risk of bias. The correlation between MPA and PA is moderate in adolescents and young adults (summary r= -0.258, 95%CI = -0.334 to -0.179, p<0.001) after random-effects modeling. Sensitivity and publication bias analyses further confirm the robustness of our results. In addition, none of the hypothesized moderators significantly influence the relationship between MPA and PA as confirmed with a mixed-effects analysis. Of note, the subgroup analysis shows no significant correlation between MPA and PA in adolescents (p>0.05). Similarly, we also do not find this significant correlation in the developed regions.

Conclusions:

The findings support a moderately negative relationship between MPA and PA among adolescents and young adults, with current data demonstrating that the strength of association does not differ by country or region, type of population, and time of data collection.