The Influence of Emotional State on Mobile Phone Addiction Tendency in College Students: The Mediation Role of Regulatory Emotion Self-efficacy

In order to explore the situation of college students’ emotional state, regulatory emotion self-efficacy and mobile phone addiction tendency as well as their relationships, a total of 350 college students were assessed with Mobile Phone Addiction Tendency Scale (MPATS), Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) and the Scale of Regulatory Emotional Self-efficacy (SRESE). The result showed that: (1) 40.86% of college students had the tendency of cell phone addiction, which was serious; 72.0% of college students were in a positive emotional state, 22% were in a negative emotional state; college students' regulatory emotion self-efficacy was in the middle level; (2) there was no gender, grade, major type, household registration type (rural and urban) and whether only child difference in mobile phone addiction tendency; (3) the positive emotions of college students were negatively correlated with the tendency of mobile phone addiction, while the negative emotions were positively correlated with the tendency of mobile phone addiction, and the positive emotion was positively correlated with regulatory emotional self-efficacy；(4) the regulatory emotion self-efficacy had a partial mediating effect between the positive emotions and mobile phone addiction tendency and had no mediating effect between the negative emotions and mobile phone addiction tendency.

Antecedents and consequences of problematic smartphone use: A systematic literature review of an emerging research area

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A preliminary investigation of materialism and impulsiveness as predictors of technological addictions among young adults

Background and aims: The primary objective of the present research is to investigate the drivers of technological addiction in college students — heavy users of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The study places cell phone and instant messaging addiction in the broader context of consumption pathologies, investigating the influence of materialism and impulsiveness on these two technologies. Clearly, cell phones serve more than just a utilitarian purpose. Cell phones are used in public and play a vital role in the lives of young adults. The accessibility of new technologies, like cell phones, which have the advantages of portability and an ever increasing array of functions, makes their over-use increasingly likely. Methods: College undergraduates (N = 191) from two U.S. universities completed a paper and pencil survey instrument during class. The questionnaire took approximately 15–20 minutes to complete and contained scales that measured materialism, impulsiveness, and mobile phone and instant messaging addiction. Results: Factor analysis supported the discriminant validity of Ehrenberg, Juckes, White and Walsh's (2008) Mobile Phone and Instant Messaging Addictive Tendencies Scale. The path model indicates that both materialism and impulsiveness impact the two addictive tendencies, and that materialism's direct impact on these addictions has a noticeably larger effect on cell phone use than instant messaging. Conclusions: The present study finds that materialism and impulsiveness drive both a dependence on cell phones and instant messaging. As Griffiths (2012) rightly warns, however, researchers must be aware that one's addiction may not simply be to the cell phone, but to a particular activity or function of the cell phone. The emergence of multi-function smart phones requires that research must dig beneath the technology being used to the activities that draw the user to the particular technology

The Relationship between Problematic Mobile Use and Sleep Quality among Nursing Students: The Mediating Role of Perceived Stress

Background and Aims: Excessive and problematic use of mobile phones could have several negative effects on different aspects of students’ lives. The current study aimed to explore the relationship between excessive mobile use and sleep quality among nursing students by considering the mediating role of perceived stress.Material & Methods: The present study was descriptive with a correlational design. One hundred and thirty-eight nursing students (103 females, 35 males) were randomly chosen through random sampling. The data collection instruments included Cell-Phone Over-Use Scale (COS), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale. Pearson Product Moment Correlation, Independent Samples t Test, and Hierarchical Regression Analysis were run in SPSS (version 22) to analyze the data.Result: The mean of students’ age, mobile use, sleep quality, and perceived stress were 20.81±1.89, 52.17±14.70, 11.8±2.69, and 22.60±6.45, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in terms of the aforementioned variables among male and female nursing students. The results of hierarchical regression analysis showed that mobile use in the first model can predict students’ sleep quality (β=.38). Upon entering the perceived stress to the equation, β of mobile use decreased, indicating the incomplete mediating role of perceived stress.Conclusion: Given the increasing use of mobile phones, it is highly important to examine their negative effects such as low sleep quality, high perceived stress, and their undesirable effects on students’ life. Hence, students’ awareness of negative effects of problematic mobile use could be raised via taking appropriate measures and making necessary interventions.

How does Nomophobia Impact Life Satisfaction? Exploring the Mediating Effect of Psychological Disorders

Several studies have highlighted the adverse consequences of information system (IS) excessive use. To expand the knowledge on this heated topic, this paper aims among the first to explore the association between nomophobia and life satisfaction mediated by psychological disorders. A big-scale systematic random sampling of over 10 thousand responses is implemented to test the established model empirically. The survey questionnaire collected demographic information, as well as responses to scales, including the nomophobia, psychological disorders (consisted of perceived stress, depression, and loneliness), and life satisfaction. Our results revealed that smartphone usage positively contributes to the development of nomophobia among college students. Noticeably, the relationship between nomophobia and life satisfaction is mediated by psychological disorders. This study offers a flexible reference to understand the occurrence of smartphone usage-related adverse effects through internalization, therefore facilitating future studies designed to discover more comprehensive effecting mechanisms of IS use

Constant connection: College students’ smartphones attachment and close relationship attachments across domains

This study aims to conceptualize the way individuals, more notably college students and emerging adults, use their smartphones, applying an attachment framework. Recently, research has shifted from using vocabulary akin to addiction, and researchers are beginning to see similarities and consistencies in how individuals relate to their phones and how attachment was originally conceptualized in the infant-mother relationship. Moreover, research is moving away from considering attachment as categorical, and is instead considering it continuous, and as varying in domains from individual to individual. This research used a new assessment tool (the YAPS) to assess college students’ attachment to phones, their important relationship attachments (ECR-RS) and their perceived relationship quality (PRQC). Research found that though many important relationship domains, notably parents, were related to smartphone attachment; however, there was no relationship between smartphone attachment and perceived relationship quality or its constructs. Future research should aim to validate the biological attachment between humans and smartphones, as well as tease out any impact smartphones and our attachments to them may have on relationships and our perception and threshold of intimacy

Internet addiction: a systematic review of epidemiological research for the last decade

In the last decade, Internet usage has grown tremendously on a global scale. The increasing popularity and frequency of Internet use has led to an increasing number of reports highlighting the potential negative consequences of overuse. Over the last decade, research into Internet addiction has proliferated. This paper reviews the existing 68 epidemiological studies of Internet addiction that (i) contain quantitative empirical data, (ii) have been published after 2000, (iii) include an analysis relating to Internet addiction, (iv) include a minimum of 1000 participants, and (v) provide a full-text article published in English using the database Web of Science. Assessment tools and conceptualisations, prevalence, and associated factors in adolescents and adults are scrutinised. The results reveal the following. First, no gold standard of Internet addiction classification exists as 21 different assessment instruments have been identified. They adopt official criteria for substance use disorders or pathological gambling, no or few criteria relevant for an addiction diagnosis, time spent online, or resulting problems. Second, reported prevalence rates differ as a consequence of different assessment tools and cut-offs, ranging from 0.8% in Italy to 26.7% in Hong Kong. Third, Internet addiction is associated with a number of sociodemographic, Internet use, and psychosocial factors, as well as comorbid symptoms and disorder in adolescents and adults. The results indicate that a number of core symptoms (i.e., compulsive use, negative outcomes and salience) appear relevant for diagnosis, which assimilates Internet addiction and other addictive disorders and also differentiates them, implying a conceptualisation as syndrome with similar etiology and components, but different expressions of addictions. Limitations include the exclusion of studies with smaller sample sizes and studies focusing on specific online behaviours. Conclusively, there is a need for nosological precision so that ultimately those in need can be helped by translating the scientific evidence established in the context of Internet addiction into actual clinical practice

Fiabilidad y validez del cuestionario para evaluar la nomofobia (QANP)

Background: The real meaning of the term nomophobia remains somewhat obscure in studies assessing this disorder. There is an increasing interest in further exploring nomophobia: however, currently available measuring tools appear to only address mobile phone abuse and/or addiction. The objective of this study was to create a Spanish-language instrument to measure nomophobia. Methods: We developed an 11-item scale that we administered to 968 participants drawn from the population of Granada (Spain). We first performed an Exploratory Factor Analysis. After assessing the nomological validity of the scale, we conducted a Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Results: The Exploratory Factor Analysis revealed a three-factor structure. Factor 1 (Mobile Phone Abuse) comprised five items that described 19% of the variance; Factor 2 (Loss of Control) comprised three items that explained 12% of the variance; and Factor 3 (Negative Consequences) comprised three items that explained 10% of the variance. Cronbach's Alpha reliability coefficient was 0.80. Limitations: Nomophobia is a modern disorder that has yet to be classified as a disease. Self-report measures are affected by biased replies, and therefore the presence of confounders may be a potential issue. Conclusion: This scale is reliable and valid. It provides future researchers with the means to measure nomophobia in the Spanish population.Antecedentes: El verdadero significado de la nomofobia parece estar oculto en los estudios que evalúan este trastorno. Existe un creciente interés en profundizar en el estudio de la nomofobia, sin embargo, las herramientas de medición disponibles desarrolladas hasta ahora parecen centrarse solo en el abuso y / o adicción a los teléfonos móviles. Por ello, el objetivo de este estudio objetivo proponer y validar un instrumento de medición de la nomofobia para la población española. Método: Desarrollamos una escala con 11 ítems que fue administrada a 968 participantes de la población de Granada (España). En primer lugar se realizó un análisis factorial exploratorio y posteriormente se realizó un análisis factorial confirmatorio. Resultados: El análisis factorial exploratorio reveló una estructura de tres factores. El factor 1 (abuso de teléfonos móviles) está compuesto por cinco ítems y explica un 19% de la varianza; Factor 2 (Pérdida de control) incluye tres ítems y explica el 12% de la varianza y Factor 3 (Consecuencias negativas) contiene tres ítems y explica el 10% de la varianza. El valor del coeficiente de fiabilidad Alpha de Cronbach fue 0.80. Limitaciones: La nomofobia es un trastorno moderno que aún no se ha clasificado como patología, las medidas de autoinforme presentas respuestas sesgadas por lo que podemos encontrar algún error o sesgo. Conclusión: QANP es una escala fiable y válida y proporciona a los investigadores una forma de medir la nomofobia para futuros estudios en la población española

Academic Performance and Behavioral Patterns

Identifying the factors that influence academic performance is an essential part of educational research. Previous studies have documented the importance of personality traits, class attendance, and social network structure. Because most of these analyses were based on a single behavioral aspect and/or small sample sizes, there is currently no quantification of the interplay of these factors. Here, we study the academic performance among a cohort of 538 undergraduate students forming a single, densely connected social network. Our work is based on data collected using smartphones, which the students used as their primary phones for two years. The availability of multi-channel data from a single population allows us to directly compare the explanatory power of individual and social characteristics. We find that the most informative indicators of performance are based on social ties and that network indicators result in better model performance than individual characteristics (including both personality and class attendance). We confirm earlier findings that class attendance is the most important predictor among individual characteristics. Finally, our results suggest the presence of strong homophily and/or peer effects among university students

Is Nomophobia an Early Indicator of Developing Problematic Smartphone Use?

Problematic smartphone use and nomophobia have been associated with several psychopathological conditions. However, little is known about the interconnectedness of these phenomena and conditions that influence them, despite previous studies discussing the mediating effects of variables such as boredom proneness, self-control, and attachment anxiety. We differentiate them as separate phenomena and investigate the role of emotional wellbeing and mindfulness in influencing them through a quantitative study with a sample of 282 participants. Statistical analysis shows that negative affective states indirectly influence problematic smartphone use through nomophobia while gender and occupation have an impact of nomophobia as well. Further, mindfulness has no bearing on problematic smartphone use or nomophobia. The study demonstrates subtle differences between two dark side phenomena and signifies the varying effects on them. It furthers the argument that dark side phenomena are interrelated and highlights the need to explore mitigation mechanisms beyond mindfulness to deal with these phenomena