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Mobility Patterns and Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Longitudinal Observational Study Using Smartphone
Owen Ngo Wang Leung1, Linda Chiu Wa Lam1, Ronald C Kessler2
1Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China (Hong Kong).
JMIR Formative Research
|July 27, 2026
Summary
Reduced journey diversity during COVID-19 was linked to increased depression and PTSD symptoms. This study highlights bidirectional relationships between individual mobility patterns and mental health, using smartphone data.
Area of Science:
- Digital Phenotyping and Mental Health
- Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases
- Human Mobility and Public Health
Background:
- The COVID-19 pandemic significantly altered global mobility, yet its mental health impacts are complex to assess due to reliance on indirect mobility measures.
- Previous studies often used lockdown status, population-level data, or self-reports, which may not capture individual movement variations or bidirectional mental health-mobility links.
- Individual-level smartphone geolocation data offers a precise and timely method for analyzing mobility during societal disruptions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate concurrent and longitudinal associations between pandemic-era mobility and mental health in Hong Kong.
- To utilize individual-level Google Location History (GLH) and population-level Google Community Mobility Reports (GCMRs) for mobility assessment.
- To explore the bidirectional relationship between mobility patterns and mental health symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of data from the CU-COVID19 cohort study, a longitudinal online survey in Hong Kong.
- Assessment of mental health symptoms (depression, anxiety, PTSD) at baseline, 6, and 12 months using validated questionnaires.
- Derivation of individual mobility factors (journey diversity, immobility, remoteness) from retrospective GLH data and comparison with GCMR residential stay data.
Main Results:
- Population-level residential stay showed no direct association with mental health outcomes.
- Lower individual journey diversity was significantly associated with increased depression and PTSD symptoms, mediating the effect of population-level residential stay.
- Longitudinal analysis revealed bidirectional relationships: higher depressive symptoms predicted decreased journey diversity, and decreased journey diversity predicted increased depressive symptoms.
Conclusions:
- Individual mobility patterns, specifically reduced journey diversity, demonstrated stronger associations with mental health symptoms than population-level mobility.
- The study supports bidirectional links between mobility and mental health, underscoring the utility of smartphone geolocation data for digital phenotyping.
- Findings should be interpreted cautiously due to the study's observational design, modest sample size, and potential self-selection bias.
