Smartphone addiction: psychosocial correlates, risky attitudes, and smartphone harm

Abstract

Smartphone use has brought convenience to users, although its excessive use and addiction might also have negative consequences. Using a representative sample of 526 smartphone users in Spain, the present study analyzes smartphone extensive use and addiction as well as its relationship to smartphone harm. Self-reported and scanned data were obtained from users and their smartphones. Multivariate linear regression analyses showed that higher levels of smartphone extensive use were found for female respondents, those high on general propensity to risk, neuroticism, and low on conscientiousness, openness, or social support. Multivariate binary logistic results showed that general propensity to risk and low social support were predictive of smartphone addiction. The combination of high smartphone extensive use and low social support was positively and significantly related to the existence of smartphone harm as well as higher levels of risk attitudes toward smartphone use. These results might indicate that when low social support is coupled with an extensive smartphone use, respondents not only show a more positive attitude toward risky behaviors while using their smartphone but, also, a greater level of harm is found in their terminals.

Keywords:

• Smartphone addiction
• personality
• social support
• sensation seeking
• malware