Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: May 10, 2024
Date Accepted: Mar 5, 2025
Loneliness and Problematic Media Use: A Meta-Analysis of Longitudinal Studies
ABSTRACT
While past research has established the association between loneliness and problematic media use, the direction of causality remains unclear. This meta-analysis investigates the longitudinal relationships between loneliness and problematic media use. Systematic searches in three online databases identified 26 longitudinal studies involving a total of 24,798 participants. Random-effects models revealed bidirectional relationships between loneliness and problematic media use. However, the effect sizes were weaker than anticipated when using beta coefficients as estimates of the longitudinal relationships. Subgroup analyses demonstrated stable results for beta coefficients across various study designs. This meta-analysis also highlights potential methodological limitations and provides recommendations for future research on longitudinal relationships.
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.