Testing the validity of the smartphone pervasiveness scale for adolescents with self-reported objective smartphone use data.

An ongoing and heated scientific debate pertains to the conceptualization and quantification of adolescents' problematic smartphone use (PSU). To address the limitations of existing surveys, the smartphone pervasiveness scale for adolescents (SPS-A) has been designed to measure the subjective frequency of smartphone usage during significant moments within daily routines. Given the weak correlations in prior literature between self-reported PSU metrics and objective use data, this study investigates the relationships between diverse self-reported objective metrics of smartphone engagement-that is duration, frequency, and count of notifications-and the SPS-A scale, employing a cohort of Swiss adolescents (N = 1396; Mage = 15.8, SDage = 0.81; 59% female). The findings reveal a substantial correlation between the total objectively measured duration of smartphone engagement and the SPS-A scale (r = .41 for iOS users and r = .42 for Android users). Moreover, a similar trend emerges as users are categorized by their level of objective use, with each category displaying a linear augmentation in smartphone pervasiveness levels. Instead, modest correlations emerge when considering the quantity of device unlocks and notifications. Noteworthy, no gender disparities emerged. These results add to our knowledge about the usefulness of the concept and measurement of smartphone pervasiveness: not only the SPS-A is a valid alternative to scales on "smartphone addiction" to capture non-pathological PSU, but it is also a better predictor of smartphone objective duration of use than self-reported measures. The correlation found between self-reported pervasiveness and actual use is discussed in light of the debate about the relevance of screen time in the study of PSU.

Earlier smartphone acquisition negatively impacts language proficiency, but only for heavy media users. Results from a longitudinal quasi-experimental study.

There is a growing debate about the proper age at which teens should be given permission to own a personal smartphone. While experts in different disciplines provide parents and educators with conflicting guidelines, the age of first smartphone acquisition is constantly decreasing and there is still limited evidence on the impact of anticipating the age of access on learning outcomes. Drawing on two-wave longitudinal data collected on a sample of 1672 students in 2013 (at grade 5) and 2016 (at grade 8), this study evaluates whether obtaining the first personal smartphone at 10 or 11 years old, during the transition to lower secondary school (early owning), affected their language proficiency trends compared to receiving it from the age of 12 onwards (late owning). Results indicate an overall null effect of smartphone early owning on adolescents' language proficiency trajectories, while a negative effect is found on those who were already heavy screen media users before receiving the device.

Cognitive Reserve Potential: Capturing Cognitive Resilience Capability in Adolescence.

Cognitive reserve (CR) represents the adaptive response of the cognitive system responsible for preserving normal functioning in the face of brain damage. Experiential factors such as education, occupation, and leisure activities influence the development of CR. Theoretically, such factors build up from childhood and across adulthood. Thus, appropriate tools to define and measure CR as early as adolescence are essential to understand its developmental processes. To this aim, we introduce the construct of "Cognitive Reserve Potential" (CRP) and its corresponding index of experiential factors tailored to youth. We investigated prototypical youth exposures potentially associated with the lifelong development of CR (e.g., sport practice, musical experiences, cultural activities, and relationships with peers and family). Principal component analysis and confirmatory factor analysis identified and replicated the CRP factor structure on two independent samples of Italian students: N = 585 (295 F) and N = 351 (201 F), ages 11 to 20. CRP was associated mainly with family socio-cultural status (i.e., socioeconomic status [SES], Home Possessions, and Books at Home). Results confirmed the strength of the factorial model and warranted the proposal of the CRP-questionnaire as an innovative tool for understanding CR evolutionary dynamics.

The prevalence of insomnia in different COVID-19 policy phases: Longitudinal evidence from ITA.LI - Italian Lives.

BACKGROUND: This study investigated changes in the prevalence of insomnia in Italy during COVID-19, starting from the first lockdown period (8 March 2020). We hypothesized that lockdown precipitated increased prevalence of insomnia symptoms relative to the pre-pandemic period; b) the gradual relaxation of containment measures - post-lockdown period (Phase 2 and Phase 3) - reduced insomnia severity, leading to a relative recovery of pre-pandemic levels; and c) we tested age-related heterogeneity in sleep responses, with an expected higher increase in insomnia in younger and middle-age groups. METHODS: Analyses drew on a subsample (N = 883) of respondents to ITA.LI - Italian Lives, a recently established panel study on a probability sample of individuals aged 16 + living in Italy. To estimate patterns of change in insomnia, we first fitted a random-effects ordered logistic model on the whole sample. We then added an interaction term between policy phases and the respondent age to test whether the relationship between insomnia and policy phases differed across age groups. Analyses accounted for survey non-response weights. RESULTS: The fraction of respondents reporting moderate ("somewhat" + 0.159, S.E. 0.017) or severe ("very much" + 0.142, S.E. 0.030) sleep disturbances significantly increased during Phase 1. The prevalence of insomnia followed an inverted U-shaped curve across policy phases, with further increases from baseline levels ("somewhat" + 0.168, S.E. 0.015; "very much" + 0.187, S.E. 0.030) during Phase 2, followed by a relative reduction in Phase 3, although it remained significantly higher than in the pre-pandemic period ("somewhat", + 0.084, S.E. 0.016; "very much", + 0.045, S.E. 0.010). There were significant age-related differences in insomnia patterns, as the discrete change from pre-pandemic levels in the probability of not suffering from insomnia was negative and significant for the younger age group (- 0.269, S.E. 0.060) and for respondents aged 35-54 (- 0.163, S.E. 0.039). CONCLUSION: There is reason to believe that the emergency policy response to the COVID-19 crisis may have had unintended and possibly scarring effects in terms of increased prevalence of insomnia. The hardest hit were young adults and, to a lesser extent, the middle-aged; however, older respondents (55 +) remained resilient, and their insomnia trajectory bounced back to pre-pandemic levels.

Differential effects of COVID-19 and containment measures on mental health: Evidence from ITA.LI-Italian Lives, the Italian household panel.

This study used a subsample of a household panel study in Italy to track changes in mental health before the onset of COVID-19 and into the first lockdown period, from late April to early September 2020. The results of the random-effects regression analyses fitted on a sample of respondents aged 16 years and older (N = 897) proved that there was a substantial and statistically significant short-term deterioration in mental health (from 78,5 to 67,9; ß = -10.5, p < .001; Cohen's d -.445), as measured by a composite index derived from the mental component of the 12-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-12). The findings also showed heterogeneity in the COVID-related effects. On the one hand, evidence has emerged that the pandemic acted as a great leveller of pre-existing differences in mental health across people of different ages: the decrease was most pronounced among those aged 16-34 (from 84,2 to 66,5; ß = -17.7, p < .001; Cohen's d -.744); however, the magnitude of change reduced as age increased and turned to be non-significant among individuals aged 70 and over. On the other hand, the COVID-19 emergency widened the mental health gender gap and created new inequalities, based on the age of the youngest child being taken care of within the household.