Mobile phone addiction among left-behind children in Rural China: a Meta-analysis

To examine mobile phone addiction among left-behind children in rural China and provide reference for the formulation of effective intervention measures. A meta-analysis was conducted on studies collected through computer-aid retrieval of articles published on Chinese and foreign databases such as PubMed, EMbase, Web of Science, Cochrane, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Data, and VIP from the establishment of each database to August 2023. The results of random effects model analysis show that left-behind children have higher scores in mobile phone addiction than non-left-behind children (Z = 3.56, P < 0.001). The results of subgroup analysis show that publishing year and measurement tool have a significant impact on mobile phone addiction among left-behind children, with statistical significances (P < 0.05), while age has no significant impact, with no statistical significance (P > 0.05). Rural left-behind children have a higher degree of mobile phone addiction than non-left-behind children, and mobile phone addiction is an increasingly serious problem among left-behind children. The limited number of studies included in this analysis, all of which are cross-sectional studies, to some extent indicates that although the mobile phone addiction of left behind children is becoming increasingly severe, the attention received is still insufficient.