Associations Between Smartphone Keystroke Metadata and Mental Health Symptoms in Adolescents: Findings From the Future Proofing Study
BackgroundMental disorders are prevalent during adolescence. Among the digital phenotypes currently being developed to monitor mental health symptoms, typing behavior is one promising candidate. However, few studies have directly assessed associations between typing behavior...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
JMIR Publications
2023-05-01
|
| Series: | JMIR Mental Health |
| Online Access: | https://mental.jmir.org/2023/1/e44986 |
| _version_ | 1797734197262024704 |
|---|---|
| author | Taylor A Braund Bridianne O’Dea Debopriyo Bal Kate Maston Mark Larsen Aliza Werner-Seidler Gabriel Tillman Helen Christensen |
| author_facet | Taylor A Braund Bridianne O’Dea Debopriyo Bal Kate Maston Mark Larsen Aliza Werner-Seidler Gabriel Tillman Helen Christensen |
| author_sort | Taylor A Braund |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
BackgroundMental disorders are prevalent during adolescence. Among the digital phenotypes currently being developed to monitor mental health symptoms, typing behavior is one promising candidate. However, few studies have directly assessed associations between typing behavior and mental health symptom severity, and whether these relationships differs between genders.
ObjectiveIn a cross-sectional analysis of a large cohort, we tested whether various features of typing behavior derived from keystroke metadata were associated with mental health symptoms and whether these relationships differed between genders.
MethodsA total of 934 adolescents from the Future Proofing study undertook 2 typing tasks on their smartphones through the Future Proofing app. Common keystroke timing and frequency features were extracted across tasks. Mental health symptoms were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-Adolescent version, the Children’s Anxiety Scale-Short Form, the Distress Questionnaire 5, and the Insomnia Severity Index. Bivariate correlations were used to test whether keystroke features were associated with mental health symptoms. The false discovery rates of P values were adjusted to q values. Machine learning models were trained and tested using independent samples (ie, 80% train 20% test) to identify whether keystroke features could be combined to predict mental health symptoms.
ResultsKeystroke timing features showed a weak negative association with mental health symptoms across participants. When split by gender, females showed weak negative relationships between keystroke timing features and mental health symptoms, and weak positive relationships between keystroke frequency features and mental health symptoms. The opposite relationships were found for males (except for dwell). Machine learning models using keystroke features alone did not predict mental health symptoms.
ConclusionsIncreased mental health symptoms are weakly associated with faster typing, with important gender differences. Keystroke metadata should be collected longitudinally and combined with other digital phenotypes to enhance their clinical relevance.
Trial RegistrationAustralian and New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry, ACTRN12619000855123; https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=377664&isReview=true |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T12:40:48Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d5b075e27e784532b3d5eb3d4f098aea |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2368-7959 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T12:40:48Z |
| publishDate | 2023-05-01 |
| publisher | JMIR Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | JMIR Mental Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-d5b075e27e784532b3d5eb3d4f098aea2023-08-28T23:55:05ZengJMIR PublicationsJMIR Mental Health2368-79592023-05-0110e4498610.2196/44986Associations Between Smartphone Keystroke Metadata and Mental Health Symptoms in Adolescents: Findings From the Future Proofing StudyTaylor A Braundhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-8408-9070Bridianne O’Deahttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-1731-210XDebopriyo Balhttps://orcid.org/0009-0009-5903-6124Kate Mastonhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-6912-8550Mark Larsenhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-0272-2053Aliza Werner-Seidlerhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-9046-6159Gabriel Tillmanhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-9601-3660Helen Christensenhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-0435-2065 BackgroundMental disorders are prevalent during adolescence. Among the digital phenotypes currently being developed to monitor mental health symptoms, typing behavior is one promising candidate. However, few studies have directly assessed associations between typing behavior and mental health symptom severity, and whether these relationships differs between genders. ObjectiveIn a cross-sectional analysis of a large cohort, we tested whether various features of typing behavior derived from keystroke metadata were associated with mental health symptoms and whether these relationships differed between genders. MethodsA total of 934 adolescents from the Future Proofing study undertook 2 typing tasks on their smartphones through the Future Proofing app. Common keystroke timing and frequency features were extracted across tasks. Mental health symptoms were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-Adolescent version, the Children’s Anxiety Scale-Short Form, the Distress Questionnaire 5, and the Insomnia Severity Index. Bivariate correlations were used to test whether keystroke features were associated with mental health symptoms. The false discovery rates of P values were adjusted to q values. Machine learning models were trained and tested using independent samples (ie, 80% train 20% test) to identify whether keystroke features could be combined to predict mental health symptoms. ResultsKeystroke timing features showed a weak negative association with mental health symptoms across participants. When split by gender, females showed weak negative relationships between keystroke timing features and mental health symptoms, and weak positive relationships between keystroke frequency features and mental health symptoms. The opposite relationships were found for males (except for dwell). Machine learning models using keystroke features alone did not predict mental health symptoms. ConclusionsIncreased mental health symptoms are weakly associated with faster typing, with important gender differences. Keystroke metadata should be collected longitudinally and combined with other digital phenotypes to enhance their clinical relevance. Trial RegistrationAustralian and New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry, ACTRN12619000855123; https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=377664&isReview=truehttps://mental.jmir.org/2023/1/e44986 |
| spellingShingle | Taylor A Braund Bridianne O’Dea Debopriyo Bal Kate Maston Mark Larsen Aliza Werner-Seidler Gabriel Tillman Helen Christensen Associations Between Smartphone Keystroke Metadata and Mental Health Symptoms in Adolescents: Findings From the Future Proofing Study JMIR Mental Health |
| title | Associations Between Smartphone Keystroke Metadata and Mental Health Symptoms in Adolescents: Findings From the Future Proofing Study |
| title_full | Associations Between Smartphone Keystroke Metadata and Mental Health Symptoms in Adolescents: Findings From the Future Proofing Study |
| title_fullStr | Associations Between Smartphone Keystroke Metadata and Mental Health Symptoms in Adolescents: Findings From the Future Proofing Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Associations Between Smartphone Keystroke Metadata and Mental Health Symptoms in Adolescents: Findings From the Future Proofing Study |
| title_short | Associations Between Smartphone Keystroke Metadata and Mental Health Symptoms in Adolescents: Findings From the Future Proofing Study |
| title_sort | associations between smartphone keystroke metadata and mental health symptoms in adolescents findings from the future proofing study |
| url | https://mental.jmir.org/2023/1/e44986 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT taylorabraund associationsbetweensmartphonekeystrokemetadataandmentalhealthsymptomsinadolescentsfindingsfromthefutureproofingstudy AT bridianneodea associationsbetweensmartphonekeystrokemetadataandmentalhealthsymptomsinadolescentsfindingsfromthefutureproofingstudy AT debopriyobal associationsbetweensmartphonekeystrokemetadataandmentalhealthsymptomsinadolescentsfindingsfromthefutureproofingstudy AT katemaston associationsbetweensmartphonekeystrokemetadataandmentalhealthsymptomsinadolescentsfindingsfromthefutureproofingstudy AT marklarsen associationsbetweensmartphonekeystrokemetadataandmentalhealthsymptomsinadolescentsfindingsfromthefutureproofingstudy AT alizawernerseidler associationsbetweensmartphonekeystrokemetadataandmentalhealthsymptomsinadolescentsfindingsfromthefutureproofingstudy AT gabrieltillman associationsbetweensmartphonekeystrokemetadataandmentalhealthsymptomsinadolescentsfindingsfromthefutureproofingstudy AT helenchristensen associationsbetweensmartphonekeystrokemetadataandmentalhealthsymptomsinadolescentsfindingsfromthefutureproofingstudy |