Abstract
Over the past two decades, smartphones have become common, and the accompanying devices have also become much more popular and easily accessible worldwide. With the development of smartphones, accompanied by internet facilities, excessive smartphone use or smartphone addiction may cause sleep disturbance and daily dysfunction. This study proposed examining the association between personality traits and smartphone addiction and its effects on sleep disturbance. Four hundred and twenty-two university participants (80 male and 342 female participants) with a mean age of 20.22 years old were recruited in this study. All participants were asked to complete the following questionnaires: Smartphone Addiction Inventory (SPAI), Tri-dimensional personality questionnaire (TPQ), and Chinese Pittsburgh Sleep Questionnaire Index (CPSQI). The results showed that people with a high tendency toward novelty seeking (NS) as a personality trait, compared to those with lower tendency toward NS, are more likely to become addicted to smartphone use. Moreover, those with a stronger trait of being NS and specific impulsivity factor were found to have higher total scores in the SPAI (p < 0.05). In addition, linear regression analysis showed that the individuals with higher scores for withdrawal symptoms on the SPAI and anticipatory worry factor on the TPQ tended to have higher CPSQI total scores (p < 0.05). This information may be useful for prevention in individuals with personality traits making them vulnerable to smartphone addiction and for designing intervention programs to reduce intensive smartphone use and programs to increase capability in managing smartphone use.
Highlights
This study proposed to examine the possible factors of smartphone addiction related to personality traits from a neurochemical view and sleep quality, with the gender effect counted as a secondary study aim
Most of the participants were in the range of minimal to borderline depression or anxiety (BDI = 9.14 ± 7.93, Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) = 7.62 ± 6.31)
Being too dependent on smartphones, or addicted to smartphones, has consequent adverse effects on sleep quality, specific sleep latency, and daytime dysfunction. Those with personality traits of tendency toward novelty seeking and harm avoidance are more vulnerable to becoming smartphone addicts
Summary
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).Interaction with digital technology has become a part of life and has increased gradually around the world [1]. Digital technology plays an important role in allowing people to connect with their family and make friends, thus receiving family and social support [2].Smartphones are typical touch-screen devices with multiple applications (apps) offering quick access to the internet and facilitating message transmissions and communication, but extensive use of smartphones could cause negative psychological effects [3–6].Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 7588. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18147588 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: International journal of environmental research and public health
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
