Negative emotion and problematic mobile phone use: The mediating role of rumination and the moderating role of social support

Abstract

The phenomenon of problematic mobile phone use (PMPU) has been incredibly increasing, especially in Asian countries. Prior studies have argued that negative emotion is linked to PMPU. Based on the cognitive‐behavioural model of pathological Internet use and the buffering model of social support, our purpose is to identify the nuanced mediators of the rumination subtypes (i.e., reflection and brooding) and examine the moderator of social support in the relation between negative emotion and PMPU. A sample of 1,014 college students was recruited to complete the scales of PMPU, depression, anxiety, rumination (i.e., reflection and brooding), and social support. Results showed that (a) reflection did not mediate a link between negative emotion and PMPU whereas brooding partially mediated the link, and (b) both the direct association between negative emotion and PMPU and the mediated effect of brooding were moderated by social support, and they were stronger when social support was low rather than high. The study distinguishes the mediated effect of rumination subtypes and incorporates social factor in the relationship between negative emotion and PMPU, which deepens our understanding of how and when negative emotion relates to PMPU.