Psychological and Contextual Risk Factors Related to Problematic Smartphone Use: Depression and Anxiety Symptom Severity.
1. IntroductionProblematic smartphone use can have detrimental consequences on users' social relationships. (Horwood and Anglim, 2019) Considering adolescents' rather underdeveloped impulse and discipline, in addition to their growing adoption of smartphones, psychiatric and psychological complications associated with smartphone use are extremely probable. (Kim et al., 2019) Problematic and general smartphone use frequently accompany depression, anxiety, and stress. (Elhai et al., 2017a)
2. Conceptual Framework and Literature Review
Problematic smartphone use is related to depression and anxiety symptom severity. (Elhai et al., 2019) Both problematic smartphone use and smartphone deprivation may generate health problems. (Cha and Seo, 2018) Process smartphone use substantiates links between anxiety severity and problematic smartphone use. (Elhai et al., 2017b) Dysfunctional emotion regulation may result in more process smartphone use that may generate problematic smart-phone use severity. (Rozgonjuk and Elhai, 2019) Time spent on a smartphone, meticulosity, emotional robustness, receptiveness, and age are important predictors of problematic smartphone use. (Hussain et al., 2017) Isolated individuals depend mainly on smartphone and less on unmediated communication. (Kim, 2017) Without being pathological, growing smartphone use may be a prerequisite for functional interaction. (Khoury et al., 2017)
3. Methodology and Empirical Analysis
Building my argument by drawing on data collected from Pew Research Center, I performed analyses and made estimates regarding % of adults who say the increasing use of mobile phones has had a good/no/a bad influence on education/the economy/our local culture/family cohesion/civility/politics/morality/physical health/children and % of adults who say people should be very/somewhat/not concerned about children being exposed to harmful content/identity theft/exposure to false or incorrect information/mobile phone addiction/harassment or bullying/losing the ability to communicate face-to-face when using their mobile phones. The data for this research were gathered via an online survey questionnaire and were analyzed through structural equation modeling on a sample of 4,700 respondents.
4. Results and Discussion
Negative urgency and absence of commitment have relevant positive associations with both posttraumatic stress disorder severity and problematic smart-phone use. (Contractor et al., 2017a) Individuals with problematic smartphone use display growing impulsivity, impaired attentional functions which are linked with diminished prefrontal neuronal excitability, and disordered inter-hemispheric signal distribution. (Hadar et al., 2017) Problematic smartphone use is related to adverse affect and arousal among trauma-exposed persons. (Contractor et al., 2017b) Intolerance of uncertainty (a transdiagnostic psychopathology construct indicating individual differences in behaving in unpredictable circumstances and events) and problematic smartphone use are interconnected, while non-social smartphone use may activate such a link. (Rozgonjuk et al., 2019) (Tables 1-7)
5. Conclusions and Implications
Excessive smartphone use involves diverse dysfunctional symptoms, particularly addictive and prohibited use, in addition to risky behaviors. Addictive use is associated with excessive reassurance demanded through smartphone use. (Pivetta et al., 2019) Problematic smartphone use is considerably related to process smartphone usage and somewhat to social usage. (Elhai et al., 2017c) Deficiency of social assurance (Burwell et al., 2018; Kirby et al., 2018; Lazaroiu et al., 2017; Lazaroiu, 2017; Mihaila et al., 2018; Mircica, 2017; Popescu, 2018; Zurbano-Berenguer et al., 2018) driven by problematic smartphone use is commonly not accomplished, and subsequently results in greater isolation. (Kim, 2019)
Note
The interviews were conducted online and data were weighted by five variables (age, race/ethnicity, gender, education, and geographic region) using the Census Bureau's American Community Survey to reflect reliably and accurately the demographic composition of the United States. The precision of the online polls was measured using a Bayesian credibility interval.
Funding
This paper was supported by Grant GE-1475362 from the Internet-enabled Collective Intelligence Laboratory, Worcester, MA.
Author Contributions
The author confirms being the sole contributor of this work and approved it for publication.
Conflict of Interest Statement
The author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
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Sofia Bratu
sofiabratu@yahoo.com
Spiru Haret University, Bucharest, Romania
Received 20 May 2019 * Received in revised form 14 November 2019
Accepted 16 November 2019 * Available online 5 December 2019
doi:10.22381/AM1820199
Table 1 % of U.S. teens who say they have or have access to
a... at home
Desktop or laptop computer Smartphone
U.S. teens 97 98
Boys 98 99
Girls 96 97
White 93 96
Black 92 95
Hispanic 85 95
Less than $30K 73 91
$30K-$74,999 87 90
$75K or more 94 94
Parents ' level of education
High school or less 81 93
Some college 92 95
College+ 93 96
Sources: Pew Research Center; my survey among 4,700 individuals
conducted March 2019.
Table 2 % of adults who say the increasing use of mobile phones
has had... on...
A good influence No influence A bad influence
Education 65 5 30
The economy 54 12 34
Our local culture 52 11 37
Family cohesion 61 8 31
Civility 44 12 44
Politics 41 14 45
Morality 37 13 50
Physical health 39 16 45
Children 28 5 67
Sources: Pew Research Center; my survey among 4,700 individuals
conducted March 2019.
Table 3 % of adults who believe it is OK or not to use a cellphone
in these situations
Generally not Generally
OK OK
While walking down the street 27 73
On public transportation 23 77
While waiting in line 24 76
At a restaurant 68 32
At a family dinner 91 9
During a meeting 96 4
At the movie theater or other places 97 3
where others are usually quiet
At church or worship service 98 2
Sources: Pew Research Center; my survey among 4,700 individuals
conducted March 2019.
Table 4 Among those who used their phones at the most recent social
gathering they attended, the % who used the phone...
Activities that added to the gathering
At least one of the activities below 82
To post a picture or video you had taken of the gathering 42
To share something that had occurred in the group by 37
text, email, or social networking site
Because you are getting information that would be interesting
to the group 34
To connect with other people who are known by the group 27
Activities that disengaged from the gathering
At least one of the activities below 32
Because you are no longer interested in what the group
was doing 14
To connect with other people who are strangers to the group 12
To avoid participating in what the group was discussing 8
Sources: Pew Research Center; my survey among 4,700 individuals
conducted March 2019.
Table 5 % of adults who say people should be very/somewhat/not
concerned about... when using their mobile phones
Very Somewhat
concerned concerned
Children being exposed to harmful content 81 16
Identity theft 69 22
Exposure to false or incorrect information 73 17
Mobile phone addiction 67 21
Harassment or bullying 62 27
Losing the ability to communicate 53 30
face-to-face
Not
concerned
Children being exposed to harmful content 3
Identity theft 9
Exposure to false or incorrect information 10
Mobile phone addiction 12
Harassment or bullying 11
Losing the ability to communicate 17
face-to-face
Sources: Pew Research Center; my survey among 4,700 individuals
conducted March 2019.
Table 6 % of cellphone owners who do these things in public with
their phones...
Frequently Occasionally
Look up information about where 38 39
you are going or how to get there
To coordinate getting 32 36
together with others
To catch up with family and friends 33 39
To catch up on other tasks 27 34
you need to accomplish
For no particular reason, 14 21
just for something to do
Get information or details about 9 21
people you are planning to see
Avoid interacting with others 4 14
who are near you
Rarely Never
Look up information about where 17 6
you are going or how to get there
To coordinate getting 28 4
together with others
To catch up with family and friends 23 5
To catch up on other tasks 32 7
you need to accomplish
For no particular reason, 57 8
just for something to do
Get information or details about 61 9
people you are planning to see
Avoid interacting with others 71 11
who are near you
Sources: Pew Research Center; my survey among 4,700 individuals
conducted March 2019.
Table 7 % of cell owners who did the following using their cellphone
during their most recent social gathering
Did at least one of these activities below 92
Read a message such as text or email 79
Took a photo or video 68
Sent a message such as a text or email 64
Received an incoming call 67
Checked to see if you've received any alerts 62
Placed a call 44
Used an app 36
Searched or browsed the web 31
Sources: Pew Research Center; my survey among 4,700 individuals
conducted March 2019.
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| Author: | Bratu, Sofia |
|---|---|
| Publication: | Analysis and Metaphysics |
| Date: | Jan 1, 2019 |
| Words: | 2278 |
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