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 |
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Publication: | Analysis and Metaphysics |
Date: | Jan 1, 2019 |
Words: | 2278 |
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