Frequent cellphone use linked to anxiety, lowered grades

Frequent cellphone use by students is linked to anxiety, lower grades and reduced happiness, a study at Kent State University in Ohio has found. University researchers surveyed more than 500 Kent State students who recorded their daily cellphone use while the researchers made clinical measurements of anxiety and each student's level of satisfaction with their own life, a Kent State release reported Friday. Undergraduate students were surveyed and were equally distributed by class (freshman, sophomore, junior and senior.) The study participants allowed the researchers to access their official university records to retrieve their cumulative college grade point average (GPA). An analysis of the study's findings showed cellphone use was negatively related to GPA and positively related to anxiety, the researchers said. As cellphone use by students increases, it is worth considering whether use of the device is related to measurable outcomes important for student success, they said. The study by Kent State faculty members in the university's College of Education, Health and Human Services has been published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior.