Abstract
Prior work has suggested that individuals with deficits in emotion regulation skills are prone to compulsive behaviour and to following maladaptive coping strategies, such as smartphone overuse, to manage negative moods. Adolescence is a vulnerable developmental stage for deficits in emotion regulation, and these are linked to excessive smartphone use. The present study is the first to examine the links between the use of specific cognitive emotion regulation (CER) strategies and problematic smartphone use in a sample of adolescents. A total of 845 Spanish adolescents (455 females) completed the Spanish versions of the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire and the Smartphone Addiction Scale, along with a socio-demographic survey. The adolescents were divided into two groups: Non-problematic smartphone users (n = 491, 58.1%) and problematic smartphone users (n = 354, 41.9%). Significant group differences were found, with the problematic users reporting significantly higher scores for all maladaptive CER strategies, including higher self-blame, rumination, blaming of others and catastrophising. The results from logistic regression analyses show that rumination, catastrophising and blaming of others were the most important variables for distinguishing between the two groups, along with gender and parental control outside the home. In summary, these findings suggest the importance of specific maladaptive CER strategies in problematic smartphone use and provide insight for relevant targets for intervention designs.
Highlights
Among other electronic devices and communication technologies, the smartphone has attracted millions of users worldwide, in part because of the wide range of services and functions provided [1].smartphones are carried everyday wherever people go, along with their keys and money [2].Despite the benefits, there is a dark side to smartphone usage, relating to adverse and negative psychological consequences [3]
Past studies have clearly shown that deficits in emotion regulation skills are related to smartphone overuse, this is the first to distinguish between specific cognitive emotion regulation (CER) strategies followed by Spanish adolescents with problematic smartphone use
Our comparative analysis showed that problematic smartphone users reported significantly higher scores for maladaptive CER strategies, including higher self-blame, rumination, blaming of others and catastrophising, compared to non-problematic users
Summary
Smartphones are carried everyday wherever people go, along with their keys and money [2]. There is a dark side to smartphone usage, relating to adverse and negative psychological consequences [3]. Some people may be involved in the excessive use of smartphones, losing control and, in some cases, engaging in an addiction-like disorder [4] that exacerbates personal or social problems [5]. According to Billieux and colleagues [6,7], problematic smartphone use can be defined as a heterogeneous and multidimensional phenomenon involving a pattern of dependency related to negative consequences (e.g., difficulty in focusing on daily activities or on an interpersonal encounter due to a constant need to check smartphone notifications) [8].
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