Comparing generalized and specific problematic smartphone/internet use: Longitudinal relationships between smartphone application-based addiction and social media addiction and psychological distress
The initial level of problematic use of smartphone/internet increased the psychological distress among university students, and helping young adults address problematic Use of the smartphone/ internet may prevent psychological distress.
Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p/><jats:sec><jats:title>Background and aims</jats:title><jats:p>The literature has proposed two types of problematic smartphone/internet use: generalized problematic use and specific problematic use. However, longitudinal findings on the associations between the two types of problematic use and psychological distress are lacking among East-Asians. The present study examined temporal associations between both generalized and specific problematic use of the smartphone/internet, and psychological distress.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods</jats:title><jats:p>Hong Kong University students (<jats:italic>N</jats:italic> = 308; 100 males; mean age = 23.75 years; SD ± 5.15) were recruited with follow-ups at three, six, and nine months after baseline assessment. All participants completed the Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale (for generalized problematic smartphone/internet use), the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (for specific problematic smartphone/internet use), and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (for psychological distress) in each assessment. Latent growth modeling (LGM) was constructed to understand temporal associations between generalized/specific problematic use and psychological distress.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>The LGM suggested that the intercept of generalized problematic use was significantly associated with the intercept of psychological distress (standardized coefficient [<jats:italic>β</jats:italic>] = 0.32; <jats:italic>P</jats:italic> < 0.01). The growth of generalized problematic use was significantly associated with the growth of psychological distress (<jats:italic>β</jats:italic> = 0.51; <jats:italic>P</jats:italic> < 0.01). Moreover, the intercept of specific problematic use was significantly associated with the intercept of psychological distress (<jats:italic>β</jats:italic> = 0.28; <jats:italic>P</jats:italic> < 0.01) and the growth of psychological distress (<jats:italic>β</jats:italic> = 0.37; <jats:italic>P</jats:italic> < 0.01).</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title><jats:p>The initial level of problematic use of smartphone/internet increased the psychological distress among university students. Helping young adults address problematic use of the smartphone/internet may prevent psychological distress.</jats:p></jats:sec>