NEWS
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
B3
Smartphones cause problems for college students
Craig Berkley
Cambridge University
A survey of more than
3,400 university students in
the USA has found that one
in fi ve respondents reported
problematic smartphone use.
Female students were more
likely be affected and prob-
lematic smartphone use was
associated with lower grade
averages, mental health
problems and higher num-
bers of sexual partners.
Smartphones offer the
potential of instant, round-
the-clock access for making
phone calls, playing games,
gambling, chatting with
friends, using messenger
systems, accessing web ser-
vices (e.g. websites, social
networks and pornography),
and searching for informa-
tion. The number of users
is rapidly increasing, with
some estimates suggesting
that there are now more than
2.7 billion users worldwide.
While most people using
smartphones fi nd them a
helpful and positive part
of life, a minority of users
develop excessive smart-
phone use, meaning that
smartphone use has signifi -
cant negative effects on how
people function in life. Pre-
vious research has linked
excessive smartphone use
to mental health issues
such as anxiety, depression,
post-traumatic stress disor-
der (PTSD), attention defi -
cit hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD) and problems with
self-esteem.
A collaborative team of
researchers from the Univer-
sity of Chicago, University
of Cambridge, and the Uni-
versity of Minnesota, devel-
oped the Health and Addic-
tive Behaviours Survey to
assess mental health and
well-being in a large sample
of university students. They
used the survey to investi-
gate the impact of smart-
phone use on university
students. Just over a third
(3,425) of students invited to
take the test responded. The
results are published today
A Cambridge University study found that excessive smartphone use can create problems for college student.s
in the Journal of Behavioral
Addictions.
The self-report survey
consisted of 156 questions.
Based on their responses,
the students were given a
score ranging from 10 to 60,
with a score of 32 and above
being defi ned as problem-
atic smartphone use. This
defi nition was based on a
threshold recommended pre-
viously in clinical valida-
tion studies using the scale.
Typical characteristics of
problematic use include:
excessive use; trouble con-
centrating in class or at work
due to smartphone use; feel-
ing fretful or impatient with-
out their smartphone; miss-
ing work due to smartphone
use; and experiencing phys-
ical consequences of exces-
sive use, such as light-head-
edness or blurred vision.
The researchers found
that one in fi ve (20%) of
respondents reported prob-
lematic smartphone use.
Problematic smartphone
use was greater among
female rather than male stu-
dents – 64% of problem
users were female. Impor-
tantly, the researchers found
a link between problematic
smartphone use and lower
grade point averages (aca-
demic achievement).
“Although the effect of
problematic smartphone use
on grade point averages was
relatively small, it’s worth
noting that even a small neg-
ative impact could have a
profound effect on an indi-
vidual’s academic achieve-
ment and then on their
employment opportunities in
later life,” said Professor Jon
Grant from the Department
of Psychiatry & Behavioral
Neuroscience at the Univer-
sity of Chicago.
While students reporting
problematic smartphone use
tended be less sexually active
than their peers (70.9% com-
pared to 74%), the propor-
tion of students reporting
two or more sexual partners
in the past 12 months was
signifi cantly higher among
problem users: 37.4% of
sexually-active problematic
smartphone users compared
with 27.2% sexually-active
students who reported no
problem use. The proportion
with six or more sexual part-
ners was more than double
among sexually-active prob-
lematic smartphone users
(6.8% compared to 3.0%).
“Smartphones can help
connect people and help
people feel less isolated,
and our fi ndings suggest that
they may act as an avenue
for sexual contact, whether
through sustained partner-
ships or more casual sex,”
added Dr Sam Chamberlain,
Wellcome Trust Clinical Fel-
low and Honorary Consul-
tant Psychiatrist from the
Department of Psychiatry at
the University of Cambridge
and the Cambridge & Peter-
“It’s easy to think of prob-
lematic smartphone use as an
addiction, but if it was that
simple, we would expect it
to be associated with a wide
range of substance misuse
problems, especially in such
a large sample, but this does
not seem to be the case,”
added Dr Sam Chamberlain.
“One possible explana-
tion for these results is that
people develop excessive
smartphone use because of
other mental health diffi -
culties. For example, peo-
ple who are socially iso-
lated, those who experience
depression or anxiety, or
those who have attention
problems (as in ADHD) may
be more prone to excessive
smartphone use, as well as to
using alcohol. Smartphone
use likely develops earlier in
life – on average – than alco-
hol use problems and so it
is unlikely that alcohol use
itself leads to smartphone
use.”
borough NHS Foundation
Trust.
The researchers found
that alcohol misuse was sig-
nifi cantly higher in those
with problematic smart-
phone use compared to the
control group. To assess this,
the team used a scale known
as the Alcohol Use Disor-
ders Identifi cation Test: a
score of eight or above indi-
cates harmful alcohol use.
33.3% of problematic smart-
phone users scored eight or
above compared to 22.5% of
other smartphone users. The
researchers found no sig-
nifi cant link with any other
form of substance abuse or
addiction.
In terms of other men-
tal health problems, the
researchers found that prob-
lematic smartphone use was
signifi cantly associated with
lower self-esteem, ADHD,
depression, anxiety, and
PTSD, mirroring similar
fi ndings elsewhere.
New research on historic megadroughts
may help predict future climatic events
Nicole deRoberts
Columbia University
About a dozen mega-
droughts struck the Ameri-
can Southwest during the 9th
through the 15th centuries,
but then they mysteriously
ceased around the year 1600.
What caused this clustering
of megadroughts — that is,
severe droughts that last for
decades — and why do they
happen at all?
If scientists can under-
stand why megadroughts
happened in the past, it
can help us better predict
whether, how, and where they
might happen in the future.
A study published today in
Science Advances provides
the fi rst comprehensive the-
ory for why there were
megadroughts in the Ameri-
can Southwest. The authors
found that ocean temperature
conditions plus high radia-
tive forcing — when Earth
absorbs more sunlight than
it radiates back into space —
play important roles in trig-
gering megadroughts. The
study suggests an increasing
risk of future megadroughts
in the American Southwest
due to climate change.
Previously,
scientists
have studied the individ-
ual factors that contribute to
megadroughts. In the new
study, a team of scientists at
Columbia University’s Lam-
ont-Doherty Earth Obser-
vatory has looked at how
multiple factors from the
global climate system work
together, and projected that
warming climate may bring a
new round of megadroughts.
By reconstructing aquatic
climate data and sea-sur-
face temperatures from the
last 2,000 years, the team
found three key factors that
led to megadroughts in the
American Southwest: radia-
tive forcing, severe and fre-
quent La Niña events — cool
tropical Pacifi c sea surface
temperatures that cause
changes to global weather
events — and warm condi-
tions in the Atlantic. High
radiative forcing appears to
have dried out the Ameri-
can Southwest, likely due
to an increase in solar activ-
ity (which would send more
radiation toward us) and a
decrease in volcanic activity
(which would admit more of
it) at the time. The resulting
increase in heat would lead
to greater evaporation. At
the same time, warmer than
usual Atlantic sea-surface
temperatures combined with
very strong and frequent La
Niñas decreased precipita-
tion in the already dried-out
area. Of these three factors,
La Niña conditions were esti-
mated to be more than twice
as important in causing the
megadroughts.
While the Lamont scien-
tists say they were able to
pinpoint the causes of mega-
droughts in a more com-
plete way than has been done
before, they say such events
will remain diffi cult for sci-
entists to predict. There are
predictions about future
trends in temperatures, arid-
ity, and sea surface tempera-
tures, but future El Niño and
La Niña activity remains dif-
fi cult to simulate. Neverthe-
less, the researchers conclude
that human-driven climate
Introducing Orthopedic Surgeon
Dr. Adam Heisinger
change is stacking the deck
towards more megadroughts
in the future.
“Because you increase the
baseline aridity, in the future
when you have a big La
Niña, or several of them in
a row, it could lead to mega-
droughts in the American
West,” explained lead author
Nathan Steiger, a Lam-
ont-Doherty Earth Observa-
tory hydroclimatologist.
During the time of the
medieval
megadroughts,
increased radiative forc-
ing was caused by natu-
ral climate variability. But
today we are experiencing
increased dryness in many
locations around the globe
due to human-made forces.
Climate change is setting the
stage for an increased possi-
bility of megadroughts in the
future through greater aridity,
say the researchers.
AUG
2019
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