Adolescents’ Addictive Phone Use: Associations with Eating Behaviors and Adiposity

Sarah E. Domoff, Emma Q. Sutherland, Sonja Yokum and Ashley N. Gearhardt
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Sarah E. Domoff: Department of Psychology, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI 48859, USA
Emma Q. Sutherland: School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
Sonja Yokum: Oregon Research Institute, Eugene, OR 97403, USA
Ashley N. Gearhardt: Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 8, 1-10

Abstract: Concerns have been raised about excessive or “addictive” phone use among adolescents, and the impact that addictive phone use (APU) can have on adolescent development and health. Most research on the physical health correlates of smartphone use has been limited to sleep health, whereas other outcomes, such as eating behaviors and obesity risk have not received as much attention. To address this gap in the literature, we examined the association between APU and emotion regulation difficulties, impulsivity, maladaptive eating behaviors, and adiposity in a sample of 111 adolescents. We found that APU is associated with greater emotion regulation difficulties, dysregulated eating, restrained eating, food addiction, and higher percent body fat. Further, we found that emotion regulation difficulties mediated the association between APU and dysregulated eating, restrained eating, and food addiction. Findings suggest that addictive phone use may confer increased risk for obesogenic eating behaviors and food addiction via challenges in regulating emotions.

Keywords: phone; adolescents; addiction; BMI percentile; food addiction; emotional eating; impulsivity; emotion regulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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