Phantom Phone Signals in youths: Prevalence, correlates and relation to psychopathology

The term Phantom Phone Signals (PPS) refers to the perception of a mobile phone ringing, vibrating and blinking when in fact it did not. Data in youth are lacking, and controversies exist on whether PPS is related to psychopathology. In the present study, we showed data on the prevalence of PPS in a...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2019-01, Vol.14 (1), p.e0210095-e0210095
Main Authors: Pisano, Simone, Muratori, Pietro, Senese, Vincenzo Paolo, Gorga, Chiara, Siciliano, Margherita, Carotenuto, Marco, Iuliano, Raffaella, Bravaccio, Carmela, Signoriello, Simona, Gritti, Antonella, Pascotto, Antonio, Catone, Gennaro
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Anxiety
Biology and Life Sciences
Blinking
Care and treatment
Cell Phone
Child
Complications and side effects
Cross-Sectional Studies
Emotional behavior
Emotions
Engineering and Technology
Female
Females
Hallucinations - epidemiology
Hallucinations - psychology
Humans
Male
Medicine and Health Sciences
Mental disorders
Mental Disorders - epidemiology
Mental Disorders - psychology
Physical Sciences
Prevalence
Preventive medicine
Problem Behavior - psychology
Psychiatric research
Psychopathology
Risk factors
Sensory disorders
Smartphone
Social Sciences
Students
Teenagers
Youth
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The term Phantom Phone Signals (PPS) refers to the perception of a mobile phone ringing, vibrating and blinking when in fact it did not. Data in youth are lacking, and controversies exist on whether PPS is related to psychopathology. In the present study, we showed data on the prevalence of PPS in a population (N = 2959) of students aged 10 to 14 years. We also explored the possible association between PPS and emotional or behavioural problems. Our results showed that PPS is a relatively common phenomenon with a prevalence rate of 58.9%, being more frequent in females. In univariate and multivariate analyses, we also found an association between the presence of PPS and emotional problems and temper tantrums, after accounting for relevant covariates. PPS is a relevant phenomenon to be considered in youth. It is common and may be a signal for emotional problems.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0210095