Modelling smartphone addiction: The role of smartphone usage,self-regulation,general self-efficacy and cyberloafing in university students

The present study investigates the roles of smartphone usage, self-regulation, general self-efficacy and cyberloafing in smartphone addiction. We conducted an online survey which received responses from 598 participants attending a public university in Ankara, Turkey. The results showed that both the duration of smartphone usage and cyberloafing positively affected smartphone addiction. The effect of self-regulation on smartphone addiction was negative and significant. In addition, neither self-regulation nor general self-efficacy had an effect on cyberloafing. Research results are discussed within the context of the effect of smartphone addiction on learning environments and individuals.     

What type of content are smartphone users addicted to?: SNS vs. games

Based on a sample of 944 respondents who were recruited from 20 elementary schools in South Korea, this research surveyed the factors that lead to smartphone addiction. This research examined the user characteristics and media content types that can lead to addiction. With regard to user characteristics, results showed that those who have lower self-control and those who have greater stress were more likely to be addicted to smartphones. For media content types, those who use smartphones for SNS, games, and entertainment were more likely to be addicted to smartphones, whereas those who use smartphones for study-related purposes were not. Although both SNS use and game use were positive predictors of smartphone addiction, SNS use was a stronger predictor of smartphone addiction than game use.     

Smartphone addiction and associated consequences: role of loneliness and self-regulation

ABSTRACT

The ‘smartphone addiction’ is a popular theme in media. It has number of clear behavioural changes in addicts’ life and some of these aspects are yet to get due research attention. The present study identifies antecedents of smartphone addiction and its associated conflicts. The findings are based on data collected from adolescents, who are major targets for smartphone advertising and also vulnerable to addictions. The findings established ‘loneliness’ and ‘self-regulation’ as the main antecedents for smartphone addiction along with family, personal conflicts and poor academic performance as the significant negative consequences of its excessive use. The study findings would help to create awareness and offer insights for developing effective interventions for addressing smartphone addiction amongst adolescents. The planners, regulatory and administrative authorities will use the study findings to formulate measures that would promote positive coping mechanism to prevent smartphone addiction among adolescents.     

Is the smartphone a smart choice? The effect of smartphone separation on executive functions

Despite a huge spike in smartphone overuse, the cognitive and emotional consequences of smartphone overuse have rarely been examined empirically. In two studies, we investigated whether separation from a smartphone influences state anxiety and impairs higher-order cognitive processes, such as executive functions. We found that smartphone separation causes heightened anxiety, which in turn mediates the adverse effect of smartphone separation on all core aspects of executive functions, including shifting (Experiment 1) and inhibitory control and working-memory capacity (Experiment 2). Interestingly, impaired mental shifting was evident regardless of the extent of smartphone addiction, whereas smartphone addiction significantly moderated the negative effect of smartphone separation on inhibitory control, as assessed by the Stroop task. The study sheds light on cognitive mechanisms that may underlie some of these negative consequences of smartphone overuse.     

Smartphone addiction and its relationship with social anxiety and loneliness

Individuals with psychosocial problems such as social phobia or feelings of loneliness might be vulnerable to excessive use of cyber-technological devices, such as smartphones. We aimed to determine the relationship of smartphone addiction with social phobia and loneliness in a sample of university students in Istanbul, Turkey. Three hundred and sixty-seven students who owned smartphones were given the Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS), UCLA Loneliness Scale (UCLA-LS), and Brief Social Phobia Scale (BSPS). A significant difference was found in the mean SAS scores (p?<?.001) between users who declared that their main purpose for smartphone use was to access social networking sites. The BSPS scores showed positive correlations with all six subscales and with the total SAS scores. The total UCLA-LS scores were positively correlated with daily life disturbance, positive anticipation, cyber-oriented relationship, and total scores on the SAS. In regression analyses, total BSPS scores were significant predictors for SAS total scores (β?=?0.313, t?=?5.992, p?<?.001). In addition, BSPS scores were significant predictors for all six SAS subscales, whereas UCLA-LS scores were significant predictors for only cyber-oriented relationship subscale scores on the SAS (β?=?0.130, t?=?2.416, p?<?.05). The results of this study indicate that social phobia was associated with the risk for smartphone addiction in young people. Younger individuals who primarily use their smartphones to access social networking sites also have an excessive pattern of smartphone use.     

Smartphone addiction among university students in the light of some variables

We explored the frequency and indices of smartphone addiction in a group of King Saud University students and investigated whether there were differences in smartphone addiction based on gender, social status, educational level, monthly income and hours of daily use. We developed a questionnaire probing smartphone addiction consisting of five dimensions: 1) overuse of smartphone, 2) the psychological-social dimension, 3) the health dimension, 4) preoccupation with smartphones, and 5) the technological dimension. After being validated, the questionnaire was administered to 416 students, both male and female, at King Saud University. Results revealed that addiction percentage among participants was 48%. The order of smartphone addiction indices were as follows: overuse of smartphone, the technological dimension, the psychological-social dimension, preoccupation with smartphones, and the health dimension. Significant gender differences were found in the degree of addiction on the whole questionnaire and all of its dimensions with the exception of the technological dimension in favor of males. Significant differences by social status were found in favor of the unmarried. Bachelor degree students were found to have the highest degree of addiction. Significant differences by hours of daily use were also detected in favor of participants using the smartphone for more than 4 h a day. As to the monthly income dimension, significant differences were found on the health dimension in favor of participants with lower monthly income.     

Are we addicted to our cell phones?

Cellular telephone use has become extremely widespread over the past several years. There has been concern that current high levels of cell phone use may be compared to a behavioral addiction. However, this has yet to be thoroughly tested. This area of research also lacks in determining what the causes and consequences of consistent cell phone use may be. The present study examined the prevalence of characteristics of a cell phone addiction among a university student population along with possible predictors of high frequency use. Participants were a total of 152 undergraduate students (n = 35 males and n = 117 females). It was hypothesized that anxiety, as measured using self-report questionnaires, would increase upon having access to one's cell phone limited for high frequency users. However, anxiety only increased when participants had their cell phone sitting in front of them and were instructed not to use them. Predictors and variables hypothesized to be related included social anxiety, social connectedness, and addiction-proneness. Results indicated that social anxiety and addiction-proneness are significant predictors of frequent cell phone use, but social connectedness has no significant connection. This study provided insights into why cell phones are sometimes used so compulsively, and if frequency of cell phone use is becoming so high that it is becoming a new behavioral addiction.     

Is smartphone addiction different from Internet addiction? comparison of addiction-risk factors among adolescents

ABSTRACT

We investigated the similarities and differences among four addiction groups in Korean adolescents: Non-Addiction (NONE), Smartphone Addiction (SA), Internet Addiction (IA), and Internet-Smartphone Addiction (BOTH). For the dependent variables, we examined 12 addiction-risk factors related to psychology, family, and school environment that can influence the adolescents’ normative developmental path. To collect data, we conducted an addiction-risk factor comparison survey with 768 Korean adolescents in their first year of junior high school. Depending on the addiction groups, a multivariate analysis of variance or Tukey HSD post-hoc test was used to analyze statistical differences among the 12 addiction-risk factors. Our analysis yielded two key findings on how Internet addiction and smartphone addiction differ in terms of addiction-risk factors: (a) there were more similarities between the SA and NONE groups than between the IA and NONE groups, and (b) there were more similarities between the IA and BOTH groups than between the SA and BOTH groups.     

A model of the relationship between psychological characteristics,mobile phone addiction and use of mobile phones by Taiwanese university female students

While many researches have analyzed the psychological antecedents of mobile phone addiction and mobile phone usage behavior, their relationship with psychological characteristics remains mixed. We investigated the relationship between psychological characteristics, mobile phone addiction and use of mobile phones for 269 Taiwanese female university students who were administered Rosenberg’s self-esteem scale, Lai’s personality inventory, and a mobile phone usage questionnaire and mobile phone addiction scale. The result showing that: (1) social extraversion and anxiety have positive effects on mobile phone addiction, and self-esteem has negative effects on mobile phone addiction. (2) Mobile phone addiction has a positive predictive effect on mobile phone usage behavior. The results of this study identify personal psychological characteristics of Taiwanese female university students which can significantly predict mobile phone addiction; female university students with mobile phone addiction will make more phone calls and send more text messages. These results are discussed and suggestions for future research for school and university students are provided.     

The effect of cyber-friends on loneliness and social anxiety: Differences between high and low self-evaluated physical attractiveness groups

This study examined the causal relationships between the number of cyber-friends participants had and their social anxiety or loneliness. We predicted that participants who gave low self-evaluations of physical attractiveness would be able to lower their social anxiety or reduce their loneliness through Internet-based interpersonal relationships. Also, such effects would be more prominent if the cyber-friends were of the opposite sex. A two-wave panel study was conducted with 178 Japanese undergraduate students (63 men and 115 women; mean age was 20.29). Results showed that for those who gave a low evaluation of their physical attractiveness, having a large number of cyber-friends lowered their social anxiety and reduced the loneliness felt in friendships. These effects differed by gender of the cyber-friends. In particular, for those who gave a low evaluation of their physical attractiveness, having a large number of cyber-friends of the same sex had a positive effect on social anxiety. In contrast, cyber-friends of the opposite sex had no effect on social anxiety, but had a complex effect upon loneliness. Namely, while a large number of cyber-friends of the opposite sex reduced the loneliness felt in friendships, it also heightened the loneliness felt in family relationships. Implications of these results for further research and practice are provided.     

Utilising the co-occurrence of user interface interactions as a risk indicator for smartphone addiction

The push to a connected world where people carry an always-online device which has been designed to maximise instant gratification and prompts users via notifications has lead to a surge of potentially problematic behaviour as a result. This has lead to a rising interest in addressing and understanding the addictiveness of smartphone usage, as well as for particular applications (apps). However, capturing addiction from usage involves not only assessment of potential addiction risk but also requires understanding of the complex interactions that define user behaviour and how these can be effectively isolated and summarised. In this paper, we examine the correlation of physical user interface (UI) interactions (e.g. taps and scrolls) and smartphone addiction risk using a large dataset of those smartphone events (65,093,343, N=301,024 sessions) collected from 64 users over an 8-week period with an accompanying smartphone addiction survey. Our novel method which reports on the probability of a users addiction risk and in a model case we show how it was be used to identify 57 of 64 users correctly. This supports our observations of UI events during sessions of usage being indicative of addiction risk while improving previous approaches which rely on summative data such as screen on time. Within this we also find that users only exhibit addictive behaviour in a subset of all sessions while using their smartphone.     

The effects of personality traits,self-esteem,loneliness, and narcissism on Facebook use among university students

This study examined the relationship between three of the “Big Five” traits (neuroticism, extraversion, and openness), self-esteem, loneliness and narcissism, and Facebook use. Participants were 393 first year undergraduate psychology students from a medium-sized Australian university who completed an online questionnaire. Negative binomial regression models showed that students with higher openness levels reported spending more time on Facebook and having more friends on Facebook. Interestingly, students with higher levels of loneliness reported having more Facebook friends. Extraversion, neuroticism, self-esteem and narcissism did not have significant associations with Facebook use. It was concluded that students who are high in openness use Facebook to connect with others in order to discuss a wide range of interests, whereas students who are high in loneliness use the site to compensate for their lack of offline relationships.     

Fear of missing out,need for touch,anxiety and depression are related to problematic smartphone use

Problematic smartphone use is an important public health challenge and is linked with poor mental health outcomes. However, little is known about the mechanisms that maintain this behavior. We recruited a sample of 308 participants from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk labor market. Participants responded to standardized measures of problematic smartphone use, and frequency of smartphone use, depression and anxiety and possible mechanisms including behavioral activation, need for touch, fear of missing out (FoMO), and emotion regulation. Problematic smartphone use was most correlated with anxiety, need for touch and FoMO. The frequency of use was most correlated (inversely) with depression. In regression models, problematic smartphone use was associated with FoMO, depression (inversely), anxiety, and need for touch. Frequency of use was associated with need for touch, and (inversely) with depressive symptoms. Behavioral activation mediated associations between smartphone use (both problematic and usage frequency) and depression and anxiety symptoms. Emotional suppression also mediated the association between problematic smartphone use and anxiety. Results demonstrate the importance of social and tactile need fulfillment variables such as FoMO and need for touch as critical mechanisms that can explain problematic smartphone use and its association with depression and anxiety.     

Smartphone Addiction Inventory (SPAI): Psychometric properties and confirmatory factor analysis

The Smartphone Addiction Inventory (SPAI) was developed to assess smartphone addiction in Taiwanese university students. The purpose of the current research is to evaluate the factor structure and psychometric properties of the SPAI in Italian university students. A total of 485 university students (29.3% boys) completed the SPAI and the Young’s Internet Addiction Test (IAT).The proposed four-factor model of the SPAI-I was tested by computing CFA, and the results of the goodness of fit indices indicated an ambiguous solution. An exploratory-confirmatory cross validation strategy was applied for a better trimming of SPAI-I factorial structure. Results suggested a five-factor solution that explained 53% of the total variance (Time Spent, Compulsivity, Daily Life Interference, Craving, and Sleep Interference). Excellent internal consistency and five factor correlations were reported for the SPAI-I. This five-factor model showed good convergent validity with the Internet Addiction Disorder Test. Considering that evidence shows that overuse of a smartphone can be associated with adverse and problematic effects, the SPAI-I should be useful for determining its potential for the use in future research in Europe and for comparing the evaluation of smartphone overuse of young European people with other international Asiatic studies that have incorporated the SPAI.     

How does the smartphone usage of college students affect academic performance?

The present study aims to investigate the effects of smartphone use by college students on their perceived academic performance. Using five hypotheses derived from the literature related to smartphone use, the initial model was set up for path analysis to reveal the relationships among variables regarding college students' smartphone use in the academic setting. Moreover, multiple group analyses were additionally conducted to verify whether students exhibited different relationships in the hypothesized model depending on their majors. The results from path analyses showed that all path coefficients were positive and statistically significant, which indicated that all five hypothesized paths were supported. Above all, the results from multiple group analysis showed that one path (from Behavioural Intention to Use Smartphone to Academic Performance) differed significantly across groups. The findings from the current study provide educational policymakers and educators with information on how smartphone utilization in learning activities influences students' academic performance.     

Comparison of Internet addicts and non-addicts in Taiwanese high school

This study investigated the difference between Internet addicts and non-addicts in Taiwanese high schools, and focused specifically on their Internet usage patterns, and gratification and communication pleasures. A total of 1708 valid data samples of high school adolescents were collected. Among this sample, 236 subjects (13.8%) were identified as addicts using the eight-item Internet addiction Diagnostic Questionnaire designed by Young [Internet addiction survey [Online]. Available: http://www.pitt.edu/_ksy/survey.htm]. The analytical results revealed that Internet addicts spent almost twice as many hours on line on average than the non-addicts. Notably, surfing with a social/entertainment motivation and gratification was positively correlated with Internet addiction. Furthermore, Internet addicts obtained markedly higher overall PIUST scores and scored higher than non-addicts on four subscales (tolerance; compulsive use and withdrawal; related problems, including family, school, health, and other problems; interpersonal and financial problems). While Internet addicts perceived the Internet to have significantly more negative influences on daily routines, school performance, teacher and parental relation than non-addicts, both Internet addicts and non-addicts viewed Internet use as enhancing peer relations. Moreover, students with personalities characterized by dependence, shyness, depression and low self-esteem had a high tendency to become addicted.     

An empirical analysis of smartphone personalisation: measurement and user variability

The present report is an empirical analysis of smartphone personalisation. We collected data from two groups of users to measure how they adapt the content, interface and physical appearance of their devices. This user-driven personalisation is measured with a simple heuristic approach to quantify the behaviour. Using these scores, we explore how users differ from each other in how they personalise their smartphones with a focus on gender differences, usability and device usage in the wild. Among our findings are that not all users personalise their smartphones, females and males personalise their iPhones differently, and those who personalised their phones more tended to rate it as more usable. The users who personalised more also used their device for greater periods of time on a broader range of applications. For instance, individuals who adapted their iPhones to a greater degree also accessed the Web more often and spent more time browsing once it was accessed. We conclude with a discussion of possible factors underlying the large user diversity of smartphone personalisation found in this research.     

The prevalence of neck pain and associated risk factors among undergraduate students: A large-scale cross-sectional study

BackgroundNeck pain is a pervasive ailment causing work absenteeism, disabilities, and sleep disturbance among working adults. While the onset of neck pain in many individuals may date back to college-age, little is known regarding the prevalence of neck pain and associated risk factors among undergraduates. The current study aimed to compare the prevalence of neck pain among students in different undergraduate programs and to investigate their risk factors.MethodsUndergraduates from two universities were invited to participate in a self-administered online survey. The survey collected data regarding demographics, previous and the current neck pain symptoms, and potential risk factors (e.g., gender, age, body mass index, study programs, electronic devices usage, study hours, sports participation, and anxiety and depression levels, etc.). Multiple logistic regressions were conducted to identify risk factors for neck pain.ResultsA total of 5,195 invitation emails were sent. Of 1,002 respondents, 22.3% reported having current neck pain. Physiotherapy (26.5%) and nursing students (26.1%) had significantly higher prevalence of neck pain as compared to business students (13.2%). Anxiety (odds ratio (OR):1.11, 95%CI:1.07–1.16), concurrent low back pain (OR:3.28, 95%CI:2.15–5.00) and senior years of studies (OR:1.19,95%CI:1.01–1.41) were significantly associated with the presence of neck pain. Taller students (OR:1.02,95%CI:0.99–1.05) and prolonged smartphone usage (OR:1.05,95%CI:0.99–1.12) appeared to be associated with the presence of neck pain.ConclusionThis study not only revealed the high prevalence of neck pain among undergraduates but also identified several modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors for neck pain in this population. Specific prevention strategies should be developed and implemented to reduce the risk of neck pain in vulnerable students.     

Linking multiple risk exposure profiles with adolescent Internet addiction: Insights from the person-centered approach

Accumulating evidence suggests that multiple environmental and individual risk factors are involved in the development of adolescent Internet addiction. However, previous research has primarily relied on variable-centered approaches to examine how each risk factor functions to predict Internet addiction in isolation, ignoring the possibility that there are subgroups of adolescents who may differ in their combined exposure to multiple risk factors. Using a cross-sectional design, we sampled 14 risk factors across multiple socio-ecological levels and used a person-centered approach to identify subgroups of multiple risk exposure and to relate these subgroups to adolescent Internet addiction. A total of 998 Chinese adolescents (M_age = 15.15 years, SD = 1.57) participated in this study by filling out questionnaires regarding 14 family, school, peer, and individual risk factors and Internet addiction. Latent profile analysis identified 4 profiles that evidenced distinct patterns of risk factors: low risk (37%), moderate risk (44%), high risk (15%) and peer risk (4%). The high risk and moderate risk profiles showed higher risk for Internet addiction than the low risk profile. The peer risk profile had higher risk for Internet addiction than the high risk, moderate risk, and low risk profiles. These findings suggest that considerable heterogeneity exists in multiple risk exposure and the multiple risk exposure profiles are differentially associated with adolescent Internet addiction. Results from this study can inform the development of tailored intervention and prevention strategies to reduce adolescent Internet addiction.     

Cross-generational analysis of predictive factors of addictive behavior in smartphone usage

Smartphone addiction has been widely researched in recent years, and the effects of various demographic, personality-linked, psychological, and emotional variables, have been found. Our research goal was to examine this phenomenon from the cross-generational perspective and compare the factors that can predict smartphone addiction for different age groups. We conducted a study with 216 Israeli smartphone users, representing three generations of smartphone users: Generation X, Generation Y, and Generation Z, who filled in an 80-item questionnaire. The factors examined included the social environment pressure to use smartphone, emotional gain from smartphones, personality, daily usage time, various mobile apps and user needs. The main finding of the study is that a significantly higher level of addictive behavior was found for Generation Y compared to the other two generations. The strongest predictive factors in the computed hierarchical regression model for all three generations were social environment pressure and emotional gain. Interestingly, emotional gain from smartphone use, which reflects users' enjoyment and positive emotions along with relief of negative emotions and psychological states, was significantly higher for generation Z than for the older generations. In addition, neuroticism and the daily usage time appeared as predictive factors for the younger generations, and for Generation Z alone the WhatsApp app usage was found as a significant predictive factor as well. This study contributes to understanding the factors of smartphone addictive behavior for different generations, which might lead to more effective educational measures and explanatory campaigns on technology effects on psychological well-being.