Abstract
BackgroundThe rapid increasing rate of mobile and internet users in Lebanon, predisposes us to a high dependency on smartphones, leading to more phubbing. Phubbing has been found associated with many psychological factors. Thus, the main objectives of this study was (1) to evaluate the association between phubbing and temperaments, and (2) assess the mediating effect of self-esteem and emotional intelligence in the association between phubbing and temperaments among a sample of Lebanese adults.MethodsA cross-sectional study, carried out between August and September 2020, enrolled 461 participants aged between 18 and 29 years old. Participants were recruited from all districts/governorates of Lebanon (Beirut, Mount Lebanon, North Lebanon, South Lebanon, and Bekaa) using the snowball technique. The Generic Scale of Phubbing, Rosenberg Self‐Esteem Scale, Schutte Self Report Emotional Intelligence Test and TEMPS-M were used to assess phubbing, self-esteem, emotional intelligence and temperaments respectively.ResultsOur results showed that higher depressive temperament (B = 1.21) was significantly associated with more phubbing, whereas higher self-esteem (B = − 0.32) was significantly associated with less phubbing. Regarding the mediating effect, self-esteem partially mediated the association between depressive temperament and phubbing (21.02%), whereas emotional intelligence had no mediating effect on the association between temperaments and phubbing.ConclusionA strong correlation between phubbing and temperaments has been found in our study with a partial mediating effect of self-esteem in this association. Our findings might be a first step for raising awareness to develop the etiquette of using smartphones by providing media education to families, and good media usage habits.
Highlights
The rapid increasing rate of mobile and internet users in Lebanon, predisposes us to a high dependency on smartphones, leading to more phubbing
Bivariate analysis A higher mean generic scale of phubbing was significantly found in single participants compared to married ones (41.85 vs 36.15, p = 0.032)
A second mediation analysis, taking emotional intelligence as a mediating variable, showed that emotional intelligence did not mediate the association between temperaments and phubbing since Emotional Intelligence (EI) was not significantly associated with phubbing in all models (B = −0.05; 95% BCa −0.11–0.02; t = −1.37; p = 0.171)
Summary
The rapid increasing rate of mobile and internet users in Lebanon, predisposes us to a high dependency on smartphones, leading to more phubbing. This includes 4.6 billion internet users (90% accounting for mobile users) and a number of 4.1 billion social media users [5] All these numbers are marked by an increase in global digital growth, and increased screen time, reaching more than 10 billion hours per day of social media used worldwide, equivalent to more than 1 million years of human existence [5]. These numbers come in parallel with the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) during which social distancing was its main character [6]. Multiple countries went through long period of lockdowns, distanced learning experience, and online conferences, all of which increasing internet usage [7,8,9]
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