Associations of active and passive smartphone use with measures of youth mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Smartphone use provides a significant amount of screen-time for youth, and there have been growing concerns regarding its impact on their mental health. While time spent in a passive manner on the device is frequently considered deleterious, more active engagement with the phone might be protective for mental health. Recent developments in mobile sensing technology provide a unique opportunity to examine behaviour in a naturalistic manner. The present study sought to investigate, in a sample of 451 individuals (mean age 20.97 years old, 83% female), whether the amount of time spent on the device, an indicator of passive smartphone use, would be associated with worse mental health in youth and whether an active form of smartphone use, namely frequent checking of the device, would be associated with better outcomes. The findings highlight that overall time spent on the smartphone was associated with more pronounced internalizing and externalizing symptoms in youth, while the number of unlocks was associated with fewer internalizing symptoms. For externalizing symptoms, there was also a significant interaction between the two types of smartphone use observed. Using objective measures, our results suggest interventions targeting passive smartphone use may contribute to improving the mental health of youth.

Nightmare frequency and nightmare distress during the COVID-19 pandemic.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: The current study investigated nightmare frequency and distress during the pandemic and associated factors. METHODS: 1718 participants completed a survey, 747 of which were youth. The MADRE dream questionnaire was used to collect self-reported data on nightmare frequency and distress. In addition, personality traits, current stressors and COVID-related anxiety were also measured. An ordinal regression model was used for statistical analysis, and p < 0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: The findings from this study suggest (1) COVID-related anxiety is associated with the frequency of nightmares and the severity of nightmare distress experienced by a person; and (2) findings support the continuity hypothesis, which suggests waking life experiences are related to nightmares; and (3) increased COVID-related anxiety contributes independently to nightmare frequency. COVID-related anxiety appeared to be more prevalent within adults (p<.001, effect size = 0.18) compared to youth. Similar results were found for nightmare distress. CONCLUSIONS: The risk of nightmares may have increased due to disruptions in mental health and sleep caused by the COVID-19 crisis. These findings may be important in clinician efforts to understand nightmares and the risk of problematic sleep during the pandemic.

Dream Recall Frequency, Lucid Dream Frequency, and Personality During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Dream recall frequency and lucid dream frequency showed large inter-individual differences that are partly related to personality dimensions. However, as dream research is a small field, independent studies are necessary to build a solid empirical foundation. The present online survey included 1,537 participants (1150 women, 387 men) with a mean age of 35.1?±?15.8 years. Whereas the relationship between openness to experience and dream recall frequency was in line with previous research ? supporting the life-style hypothesis of dream recall, the associations between the Big Five personality factors and lucid dream frequency are less homogenous;for example, the negative relationship between neuroticism and lucid dream frequency. Even though the effect sizes of these associations are small, the findings can help in identifying links between waking and dreaming. Moreover, it was found that lucid dream frequency was related to Covid-19-related worries, whereas dream recall frequency was not.