High perceived stress and social interaction behaviour among young adults. A study based on objective measures of face-to-face and smartphone interactions
Open accessAbstract
Stress and mental health problems impede social functioning and may also complicate relationship formation with peers. The aim was to investigate whether high perceived stress among young adults is associated with social interaction behaviour both via face-to-face interaction and via smartphone interaction. The data was derived from the Copenhagen Network Study, where 535 first-year students (mean age 21.3, 77% male) self-reported on perceived stress at baseline and were subsequently followed for three months with continuous Bluetooth recordings of face-to-face interactions and smartphone interactions (calls and texts) measuring the network size, frequency, and duration of interactions. Logistic regression was used to assess associations between perceived stress (high/low) and social interactions adjusting for sex, age, and personality traits. Participants with high perceived stress were more likely to engage in a larger call and text network and have a higher call and text frequency compared to individuals with low perceived stress. We found a non-statistically significant tendency that participants with a high perceived stress level spend less time meeting face to face with peers. Stressed students engage in frequent smartphone interaction which may be explained by a social support seeking behaviour, or it may be that accommodating a large network via the smartphone is stress-inducing.
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Continuously recorded NBDC data represents a mixed signal that has been used to estimate individuals' behaviors and statuses, including face-to-face social interactions, working status, mobility, and isolation and loneliness.
“The continuously recorded NBDC data represents a mixed signal that has been used to estimate individuals’ behaviors and statuses, including face-to-face social interactions [8-10], working status [11], mobility [12], and isolation and loneliness [13,14].”
From Predicting depressive symptom severity through individuals’ nearby Bluetooth device count data collected by mobile phones: preliminary longitudinal study (2021) · cites this paper as [10]
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- Authors
- Dissing, A. S., Jørgensen, T. B., Gerds, T. A., Rod, N. H., & Lund, R.
- Affiliations
- University of Copenhagen (DK)
- Corresponding author
- Dissing, Agnete Skovlund
- ORCID
- Venue
- PLOS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2019-07-26
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- e0218429
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6660065
- OpenAlex
- W2964658512
- Cited by
- 36
- References
- 46
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 2
- FWCI
- 9.06
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research at the University of Copenhagen (University of Copenhagen) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Student Stress and Coping
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Mental Health Research Topics
- Keywords
- perceived stress, young adults, face-to-face interaction, smartphone interaction, social network size, peer relationships, social support seeking, first-year students, mental health
- MeSH terms
- Smartphone, Adolescent, Adult, Female, Humans, Male, Mental Health, Social Behavior, Stress, Psychological, Young Adult, Text Messaging, Social Networking
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