Hopelab & Well Being Trust 48
Mobile Health App Use Among Young People With
Depressive Symptoms
Three out of four (76%) TYAs with moderate to severe depressive
symptoms say they have used health-related mobile apps, including
38% who say they have used apps related to mental well-being,
such as stress reduction (19%), meditation/mindfulness apps (18%),
or those designed specifically to address depression (14%). But even
though teens and young adults with moderate to severe depressive
symptoms report using mental health apps at higher rates than those
without depressive symptoms (38%, compared with 10%), it is still
the case that the majority of them (62%) have never used a mental
health-related app.
While the majority (67%) of TYAs mobile health app users with moder-
ate to severe depressive symptoms say that the mobile health apps
they have used are very or somewhat helpful, this rate of satisfaction is
significantly lower than for those with no depressive symptoms (81%).
None Mild
Moderate
to severe
Any health
topic
Meditation/
mindfulness
Mean number
of app topics
Currently use a
mobile health app
Say mobile health
app was very or
somewhat helpful
Any mental
health topic
Have ever used
a mobile app on:
Stress
Depression
58%
a
8%ª
1.28ª
20%ª
81%ª
10%ª
5%ª
1%ª
65%ª
11%ª
1.58ª
26%
76%
26%
b
7%ª
4%ª
76%
b
18%
b
2.40
b
38%
b
66%
b
38%
b
19%
b
14%
b
Table 7: Reported health-related mobile app use,
by degree of depressive symptoms
Among 14- to 22-year-olds, percent who:
Source: Hopelab/Well Being Trust Teens and Young Adults Survey,
February-March 2018. N=1,337 young people ages 14-22.
Note: Superscripts are used to denote statistical significance across
rows. Items with no superscripts, and items that share a common
superscript, are not significantly different.
Digital Health Practices
Digital Health Use and Depression
Depressive symptoms
