Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Aug 28;12(3):817-826.
doi: 10.1556/2006.2023.00040. Print 2023 Oct 5.

Nonconforming gender expression and associated problematic smartphone and internet use among Chinese adolescents

Xinyu Zheng  1 , Yuwei Yang  2 , Weiqing Jiang  1 , Yitong He  1 , Cuihong Huang  1 , Yilin Hua  1 , Ciyong Lu  1 , Lan Guo  1
Affiliations

Nonconforming gender expression and associated problematic smartphone and internet use among Chinese adolescents

Xinyu Zheng et al. J Behav Addict. .

Abstract

Background and aims: Gender nonconformity (GNC), which refers to an individual's expression of gender that does not align with the socially prescribed norms for their biological sex, may be associated with adverse behavioral problems, such as problematic smartphone use (PSU) and problematic internet use (PIU). This study examined the associations between GNC and PSU and GNC and PIU among Chinese adolescents.

Methods: This cross-sectional study utilized data from the 2021 School-based Chinese Adolescents Health Survey, recruiting 23,054 eligible adolescents aged 11 to 21, with an average age of 14.9 (SD: 1.7) years from 504 classes in 84 public high schools across 7 cities in China. Gender nonconformity, PSU/PIU, and demographics were measured. Mixed-effect linear regression models were performed.

Results: Among the participants (51.0% male), 5.3% reported high GNC and 26.9% reported moderate GNC. After adjusting for covariates, high GNC was significantly and positively associated with PSU (Β = 1.11, 95% CI = 0.49-1.72) and PIU severity (Β = 2.16, 95% CI = 1.40-2.93). Stratified analyses indicated that the associations between GNC and PSU differed between males and females, with a significant association observed only among male students (Β = 1.91, 95% CI = 0.97-2.86).

Discussion and conclusions: GNC is positively associated with the severity of PSU and PIU among Chinese adolescents, with male gender-nonconforming adolescents being more vulnerable to PSU. These results highlight the importance of implementing education on gender expression diversity in schools to create an inclusive school environment, which may potentially help prevent PSU and PIU among gender-nonconforming adolescents.

Keywords: Chinese adolescents; gender nonconformity; problematic internet use; problematic smartphone use; sex differences.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

We declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Sex and gender expression interaction with the severity of problematic smartphone use (PSU). Note: The PSU severity was measured by the SAS-SV scale. Based on the mean value of SAS-SV scores in this population, the ordinate starts at 28. Highly gender conforming refers to male adolescents who reported very, mostly, and somewhat masculine or female adolescents who reported very, mostly, and somewhat feminine. Gender nonconforming refers to male adolescents who reported very, mostly, and somewhat feminine or female adolescents who reported very, mostly, and somewhat masculine. The mixed-effect linear regression model was adjusted for age, household socioeconomic status, family relationship, classmate relationship, teacher-classmate relationship, academic performance, and sexual orientation
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. American Psychological Association . (2023). Understanding transgender people, gender identity and gender expression. Retreved 2023.06.18 from https://www.apa.org/topics/lgbtq/transgender-people-gender-identity-gend....
    1. Arrivillaga, C., Rey, L., & Extremera, N. (2022). Psychological distress, rumination and problematic smartphone use among Spanish adolescents: An emotional intelligence-based conditional process analysis [Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t]. Journal of Affective Disorders, 296, 1–8. 10.1016/j.jad.2021.09.021. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Becker, I., Ravens-Sieberer, U., Ottová-Jordan, V., & Schulte-Markwort, M. (2017). Prevalence of adolescent gender experiences and gender expression in Germany [Journal Article]. Journal of Adolescent Health, 61(1), 83–90. 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2017.02.001. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bewley, S., McCartney, M., Meads, C., & Rogers, A. (2021). Sex, gender, and medical data [Editorial]. Bmj-British Medical Journal, 372, n735. 10.1136/bmj.n735. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Brand, M. (2022). Can internet use become addictive? [Journal Article]. Science, 376(6595), 798–799. 10.1126/science.abn4189. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources