Psychological Distress and Problematic Mobile Phone Use Among Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Maladaptive Cognitions and the Moderating Role of Effortful Control.

Ru-De Liu,Jingxuan Liu,Rui Zhen,Shuyang Jiang,Wei Hong,Yi Ding,Tian Po Oei

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01589

Abstract

Previous studies have documented that psychological distress is related to problematic mobile phone use (PMPU), and sporadic research has investigated the potential mechanisms underlying the association. Based on the cognitive-behavioral model of pathological Internet use (PIU), the self-control theory, and the problem-behavior theory, this study aimed to examine the mediating role of maladaptive cognitions toward mobile phones and the moderating role of effortful control between psychological distress and PMPU. Data were collected from 1,799 secondary school students (45.1% male; Mage = 14.07, SD = 1.69) using four self-reported questionnaires. The results revealed that maladaptive cognitions toward mobile phones partially mediated the relationship between psychological distress and PMPU. In addition, effortful control as a protective factor attenuated the indirect effect from psychological distress to PMPU. These findings advanced the understanding of the etiology of PMPU and the need to develop effective strategies for prevention, suggesting that schools and families should pay additional attention to students with psychological distress. Targeted interventions for integrating online and offline worlds and effortful control training programs may help to prevent adolescents from engaging in PMPU.

Highlights

Information technology is developing rapidly across the globe, and people are surrounded by manifold electronic devices
The results indicated that the conditional mediation from psychological distress to problematic mobile phone use (PMPU) via maladaptive cognitions toward mobile phones would weaken with the increase in effortful control, supporting Hypothesis 2
With the moderated mediation model tested, the negative effects of psychological distress on PMPU were interpreted by maladaptive cognitions toward mobile phones as a potential mediator, and the second link of the indirect path was moderated by effortful control

Summary

Introduction

Information technology is developing rapidly across the globe, and people are surrounded by manifold electronic devices. Convey information, and provide entertainment (Elhai et al, 2017; Castellacci and Tveito, 2018); they have penetrated into every aspect of people’s daily lives, increasing the potential for dependency on mobile. Psychological Distress and PMPU phones, especially among adolescents. Mobile phone overuse behaviors associated with addiction-like symptoms, such as craving, withdrawal, and loss of control, have been described as problematic mobile phone use (PMPU; Foerster et al, 2015; Chun, 2018). Research has found that PMPU can lead to a multitude of negative outcomes, including sleep disturbances (Thomée et al, 2011), academic failure (Lepp et al, 2014), interpersonal distress (Seo et al, 2016), internalizing symptoms (Marengo et al, 2018), and poor mental health status (Chen et al, 2016)

Objectives

Results

Conclusion