Objective: We investigated the characteristics of cellular phone use and its association with psychological problems among adolescents.

Methods: A total of 332 adolescent students were recruited for this study. The participants’ self-reported characteristics of cellular phone use and the psychological problems caused by this were tested by using the Excessive Cellular Phone Use Survey (ECPUS), the Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI), Spielberger’s State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC) and the Korea-Youth Self Report (K-YSR).

Results: The excessive user group made more use of text messages and they spent more time and paid higher fees than the comparison group. They expressed severer depression and anxiety and they had more behavior problems and lower school performance than the comparison group. The ECPUS score was positively correlated with score of the CDI, STAIC and the behavior problem scales of the K-YSR, and the ECPUS score was negatively correlated with the school performance scale of the K-YSR.

Conclusion: Our findings suggest that excessive cellular phone use by adolescents may be related to psychological problems. Careful education about the use of cellular phones and intervention are recommended for adolescents who excessively use cellular phones.