School phone policies and their association with mental wellbeing, phone use, and social media use (SMART Schools): a cross-sectional observational study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Poor mental health in adolescents can negatively affect sleep, physical activity and academic performance, and is attributed by some to increasing mobile phone use. Many countries have introduced policies to restrict phone use in schools to improve health and educational outcomes. The SMART Schools study evaluated the impact of school phone policies by comparing outcomes in adolescents who attended schools that restrict and permit phone use.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional observational study with adolescents from 30 English secondary schools, comprising 20 with restrictive (recreational phone use is not permitted) and 10 with permissive (recreational phone use is permitted) policies. The primary outcome was mental wellbeing (assessed using Warwick-Edinburg

SUBMITTER: Goodyear VA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11984610 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature