The DOI matches its Crossref record; 25 of the 25 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Young Adolescents' Digital Technology Use, Perceived Impairments, and Well-Being in a Representative Sample
Open accessAbstract
Objective. To examine the cross-sectional associations between young adolescents’ access, usage, and perceived impairments related to digital technologies and their academic, psychological, and physical wellbeing. Study design. 2,104 adolescents (ages 10–15 years), representative of the North Carolina Public School population, completed questionnaires in 2015. Administrative educational records were linked with parental consent. Results. Nearly all (95%) young adolescents had Internet access, 67% owned a mobile phone, and 68% had a social media account. Mobile phone ownership was not associated with any indicators of wellbeing (math and reading test scores, school belonging, psychological distress, conduct problems, or physical health) after controlling for demographic factors. Having a social media account and frequency of social media use were only robustly associated with conduct problems (explaining ~3% of the variation in conduct problems). Despite the lack of strong associations, 91% of adolescents reported at least one perceived technology-related impairment and 29% of adolescents reported online-to-offline spillover of negative experiences. Economically disadvantaged adolescents reported similar access, but greater online-to-offline spillover and stronger associations between social media account ownership and poor psychological wellbeing compared with their more affluent peers. Conclusions. At the population level, there was little evidence that digital technology access and usage is negatively associated with young adolescents’ wellbeing. Youth from economically disadvantaged families were equally likely to have access to digital technologies but were more likely than their more affluent peers to report negative online experiences. Closing the digital divide will require prioritizing equity in access, as well as in experiences and opportunities.
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“Recent research suggests that the digital divide may not be as relevant to adolescents as to other populations (e.g., older adults), as access to smartphones is high across class groups (George et al., 2020).”
From Technologizing Bronfenbrenner: Neo-ecological Theory. (2023) · cites this paper as George et al., 2020
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“However, George et al. (2020) found that youth from more economically disadvantaged backgrounds were more likely to experience negative spillover between virtual and physical microsystems.”
From Technologizing Bronfenbrenner: Neo-ecological Theory. (2023) · cites this paper as George et al., 2020
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KESSLER, R. C., ANDREWS, G., COLPE, L. J., HIRIPI, E., MROCZEK, D. K., NORMAND, S.-L. T., WALTERS, E. E., & ZASLAVSKY, A. M. (2002) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291702006074 · Cited by 10,327
Digital divide: civic engagement, information poverty, and the Internet worldwide
Tefft, S. (2002) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.40-1165 · Cited by 2,940
Overview of the SF-36 Health Survey and the International Quality of Life Assessment (IQOLA) Project
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Classroom Belonging among Early Adolescent Students: Relationships to Motivation and Achievement
Goodenow, C. (1993) · The Journal of Early Adolescence · doi:10.1177/0272431693013001002 · Cited by 1,614
The association between adolescent well-being and digital technology use
Orben, A., & Przybylski, A. K. (2019) · Nature Human Behaviour · doi:10.1038/s41562-018-0506-1 · Cited by 1,500
Incidence and correlates of pathological Internet use among college students
Morahan-Martin, J. M., & Schumacher, P. (2000) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/s0747-5632(99)00049-7 · Cited by 1,358
Our kids: the American dream in crisis
Rivadulla Barrientos, D. (2015) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.191635 · Cited by 1,230
Online communication, social media and adolescent wellbeing: A systematic narrative review
Best, P., Manktelow, R., & Taylor, B. (2014) · Children and Youth Services Review · doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2014.03.001 · Cited by 1,067 · cited 4×
“4,5,6 Most prior research has adopted a population-level, or one size fits all, approach to estimating harmful or beneficial “effects” of digital technologies on young people, with assumed causal arrows flowing from digital media use to adolescents’ wellbeing.”
BackgroundInfluentialDigital Inequality: From Unequal Access to Differentiated Use
DiMaggio, P., Hargittai, E., Celeste, C., & Shafer, S. A. (2004) · Cited by 1,021
Przybylski, A. K., & Weinstein, N. (2017) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797616678438 · Cited by 890
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Sorted by citations
Technologizing Bronfenbrenner: Neo-ecological Theory.
Navarro, J. L., & Tudge, J. R. H. (2023) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-022-02738-3 · Cited by 325
Problematic Social Media Use and Its Relationship with Depression or Anxiety: A Systematic Review
Lopes, L. S., Valentini, J. P., Monteiro, T. H., Costacurta, M. C. D. F., Soares, L. O. N., Telfar-Barnard, L., & Nunes, P. V. (2022) · Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking · doi:10.1089/cyber.2021.0300 · Cited by 197
Screen time, social media use, and adolescent development
Odgers, C. L., Schueller, S. M., & Ito, M. (2020) · Annual Review of Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-devpsych-121318-084815 · Cited by 137
Self-citationSalah, M., Alhalbusi, H., Ismail, M. M., & Abdelfattah, F. (2023) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-023-04989-0 · Cited by 147
Hamilton, J. L., Nesi, J., & Choukas-Bradley, S. (2022) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/17456916211014189 · Cited by 110
Metadata
- Authors
- George, M. J., Jensen, M. R., Russell, M. A., Gassman-Pines, A., Copeland, W. E., Hoyle, R. H., & Odgers, C. L.
- Affiliations
- Purdue University West Lafayette (US)
- University of North Carolina at Greensboro (US)
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- Duke University (US)
- Corresponding author
- George, Madeleine J.
- ORCID
- Venue
- The Journal of Pediatrics
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2020-04
- Volume
- 219
- Pages
- 180-187
- ISSN
- 0022-3476 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7570431
- OpenAlex
- W3006471631
- Semantic Scholar
- 4d676501f8daff80459733797452cfbbfbe86eda
- Cited by
- 104
- References
- 25
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 6
- FWCI
- 20.38
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- The Journal of Pediatrics (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Drug Abuse Center
- Jacobs Foundation
- Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Social Sciences › Education › Child Development and Digital Technology
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender and Technology in Education
- Keywords
- early adolescents, digital technology use, mobile phone ownership, social media use, conduct problems, psychological distress, school belonging, academic performance, economic disadvantage, digital divide, youth welfare
- MeSH terms
- Problem Behavior, Adolescent, Child, Child Welfare, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Humans, Male, Internet, Cell Phone, Self Report, Social Media
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