Factors associated with mental health among high school students in Iran: Does mobile phone overuse associate with poor mental health?

Problem: Mobile phone (MP) overuse is extensively rising among high school students in developing countries. Our aim in this study is to investigate the association between MP overuse and mental health, in the presence of other determinant factors, among high school students in Iran.

Methods: We recruited a clustered random sample of 1,034 high school students in Saqqez County, Iran, to complete a self-administered questionnaire with three sections: a sociodemographic questionnaire, Mobile Phone Addiction Index, and General Health Questionnaire.

Findings: A majority of the students (n = 654, 63.2%) were found to be with poor mental health. Applying multiple logistic regression, gender (odds ratio [OR] = 1.5; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.15-1.97), education degree (OR = 1.47; 95% CI = 1.30-1.67), frequency of daily messages (OR = 1.18; 95% CI = 1.07-1.31), being awakened at night for MP use (OR = 1.83; 95% CI = 1.54-2.18), and MP overuse (OR = 3.21; 95% CI = 1.20-8.58) were found in significant associations with poor mental health.

Conclusions: Planning gender-based health education programs on proper use of MP for students and their parents is suggested to school healthcare providers. The parents should be educated on the proper ways of dealing with their adolescents while using MP at home.