The relationships between smartphone distraction, problematic smartphone use and mental health issues amongst a Chinese sample

ABSTRACT

Smartphone distraction (SD) has been reported as an important factor associated with problematic smartphone use (PSU). The present study explored the relationship between SD, PSU, and mental health problems using the newly developed Smartphone distraction Scale (SDS). A total of three hundred and twenty smartphone users (M_age = 20.30, SD = 1.67) completed a questionnaire that comprised psychometric scales for the aforementioned variables. Results showed that SD was significantly correlated with PSU, anxiety, depression and stress. PSU fully mediated the relationships from SD to anxiety and depression. PSU partially mediated the relationship between SD and stress. The four-factor SDS was reliable and obtained good model fit in confirmatory factor analysis. This study suggests that being distracted by smartphone use can be associated with mental health issues while the level of PSU might be the bridge of this link. The present study is one of very few studies to examine SD in China, which aimed to investigate the relationships between SD, PSU and mental health issues (stress, anxiety and depression), and adopt the newly developed SDS in the Chinese context. Further studies are needed to explore the complex mechanism between SD and mental health.

KEYWORDS:

• Smartphone distraction
• Problematic smartphone use
• Mental health
• Smartphone distraction scale

Additional information

Funding

The present study was funded by the Humanity and Social Science Youth Foundation of the Ministry of Education of China under grant number 21YJCZH200; Social Science Youth Foundation of Jiangsu Province under grant number Jiangsu Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science 21XWC005, High level personnel (Shuang chuang) project of Jiangsu Province under grant number Government of Jiangsu Province JSSCBS20210698; Soochow University under grant number 21XM1004.