[HN Gopher] Kids who own smartphones before age 13 have worse me...
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       Kids who own smartphones before age 13 have worse mental health
       outcomes: Study
        
       Author : donsupreme
       Score  : 22 points
       Date   : 2025-11-22 21:11 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (abcnews.go.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (abcnews.go.com)
        
       | stopbulying wrote:
       | Is owning a smartphone more or less dangerous than owning a cat?
       | 
       | "Cat Ownership Linked to Increased Risk of Schizophrenia,
       | Research Suggests" https://www.sciencealert.com/owning-a-cat-
       | could-double-your-...
       | 
       | > "After adjusting for covariates, we found that individuals
       | exposed to cats had approximately twice the odds of developing
       | schizophrenia,"
        
         | Fnoord wrote:
         | My first question would be: or is it that cat owners are
         | schizophrenic are more likely to get a cat?
         | 
         | I'm not answering that question, but I do want to quote your
         | article. From the bottom:
         | 
         | > Results were inconsistent across studies, but those of higher
         | quality suggested that associations in unadjusted models might
         | have been due to factors that could have influenced the
         | results.
         | 
         | > One study found no significant association between owning a
         | cat before age 13 and later developing schizophrenia, but it
         | did identify a significant link when narrowing down cat
         | ownership to a specific period (ages 9 to 12). This
         | inconsistency suggests that the critical window for cat
         | exposure is not well defined.
         | 
         | > A study in the US, which involved 354 psychology students,
         | didn't find a connection between owning a cat and schizotypy
         | scores. However, those who had received a cat bite had higher
         | scores when compared to those who had not.
         | 
         | > Another study, which included people with and without mental
         | disorders, discovered a connection between cat bites and higher
         | scores on tests measuring particular psychological experiences.
         | But they suggested other pathogens, such as Pasteurella
         | multocida, may be responsible instead.
         | 
         | > Before we can make any firm interpretations, the researchers
         | reiterate that we need better and broader research.
        
         | doctorpangloss wrote:
         | Obviously, because people like cats, they are good, and because
         | people don't like phones, they are bad.
        
       | skylurk wrote:
       | Soon:                 Adults who have smartphones have worse
       | mental heath outcomes: Study
       | 
       | Whatever the safe level of smartphone usage is, most of us are
       | above it.
        
       | torginus wrote:
       | I don't know many children who are 13 today and don't have a
       | smartphone - in fact it was quite a common thing even a decade
       | ago - how do you even control for this
        
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       (page generated 2025-11-22 23:00 UTC)