WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A new study published in JAMA Network Open involving nearly 9,000 teenagers in the U.S. found that children who owned a smartphone at age 12 were more likely to report symptoms of eating disorders later.
The researchers analyzed data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, a large US research project that tracks brain development and health in children and teenagers. Of the total participants, about 70 percent owned a smartphone at age 12, while the remaining did not.
The researchers examined four types of eating disorder symptoms when the participants were 12 and 14 years old. These included binge eating, behaviors intended to prevent weight gain, fear of gaining weight and judging one's self-worth based on body weight.
Two years later, the researchers found a clear difference between the two groups. At age 14, 24.2 percent of teenagers who owned a smartphone at age 12 reported at least one of the symptoms studied. In comparison, only 15.5 percent of those who did not own a smartphone at age 12 reported such symptoms.
The researchers also considered other factors that could influence the results, which included gender, family income, parents' education levels, body weight, puberty, symptoms of depression and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), parental monitoring and ownership of other digital devices. They also accounted for eating disorder symptoms that the children had already experienced at age 12.
Even after considering these factors, owning a smartphone at age 12 was associated with a 49 percent higher risk of reporting at least one eating disorder symptom at age 14.
When the researchers examined individual symptoms, they found that smartphone ownership at age 12 was associated with a 67 percent higher risk of binge eating two years later. It was also linked to a 50 percent higher risk of engaging in behaviors intended to prevent weight gain.
Additionally, teenagers who owned smartphones at age 12 were approximately twice as likely to base their self-worth on their body weight.
'Owning a personal smartphone during early adolescence may be particularly consequential, given its potential to increase unsupervised and individualized exposure to digital environments during a sensitive developmental period,' the study authors explained.
'These influences may also accumulate over time and be shaped by developmental timing.'
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