Christian Schools with Strict Cell Phone Policies Report Better Student Mental Health: Study

 

New research involving Christian schools reveals a strong correlation between restrictive cell phone policies and positive student mental health, with nearly all schools rating student mental health as good or excellent having such... 

A growing body of research in recent years has linked teen cell phone use to poorer mental health outcomes – and now a study of Christian schools suggests a similar pattern.

The Association of Christian Schools International and the School Counseling Mental Health Initiative at Denver Seminary survey Christian school educators and found that 80 percent rated their students’ mental health as “good” or “excellent.” Notably, schools that restricted cell phone use were much more likely than those without such a policy to give students a favorable mental health grade.

In fact, 98 percent of schools that rated their students’ mental health as good or excellent had a restrictive cell phone policy – and the strongest results came from perhaps the most stringent approach: requiring students to turn in their phones.

“The response option that was most highly correlated with respondents’ perception of ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ student mental health was collecting phones at the start of each day and returning them