The Moderating Effect of Mindfulness on the Relationship Between Problematic Smartphone Usage and Depression, Anxiety, and Stress

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to investigate mindfulness as a moderator in the relationship between problematic smartphone usage (PSU) and ratings of depression, anxiety, and stress. Participants were 168 undergraduates from a university in southern California, who completed an online survey measuring smartphone addiction, mental health markers, and mindfulness. The current study also investigated the relationship between one’s objective smartphone screen time and ratings of PSU, depression, anxiety, and stress through Pearson’s product-moment correlations and hierarchical regression analyses. Results indicated that, for individuals with high mindfulness, mindfulness significantly moderated the relationship between PSU and anxiety and stress, but not depression. For those high in mindfulness, higher PSU was associated with higher anxiety (B = 0.11, SE = 0.04, 95% CI [0.02, 0.19], p = .02) and stress (B = 0.12, SE = 0.05, 95% CI [–0.08, 0.09], p < .001), an unexpected finding. The relationships between PSU and both anxiety and stress were nonsignificant for those low in mindfulness (p = .80 in both cases). Among the full sample, more objective screen time was associated with more depression (r = .25, p < .001) but was not linked to PSU (r = .13, p = .13). Implications are discussed, as well as limitations and suggestions for future research.