A Cross-lagged Study On The Relationship Between Social Anxiety, Negative Coping Style And Problematic Smartphone Use Among Adolescent

The excessive use of smartphones by adolescents is also known as smartphone addiction,a new type of behavioral addiction in which individuals become addicted to smartphones and develop persistent and strong emotions that eventually lead to impaired social functioning and psychological and behavioral problems that negatively affect learning and life.There are multiple reasons for problematic smartphone use in adolescents,including individual emotional,cognitive,and behavioral factors.When individuals are unable to solve the problems they face at the moment,and when the psychological need for social interaction is obstructed,the internalized lack of confidence and avoidance behaviors are the source of social anxiety,and the cognitive and behavioral changes that individuals make in different contexts are the coping styles.Social anxiety affects problematic smartphone use through coping styles.The purpose of this study was to examine the factors influencing adolescents’ problematic smartphone use and the relationship between adolescents’ problematic smartphone use and social anxiety and negative coping styles.This study included three sub-studies,Study 1 explored the delayed predictive relationship between social anxiety and negative coping styles based on previous cross-sectional designs;Study2 explored the delayed predictive relationship between negative coping styles and adolescent problematic smartphone use,also based on previous cross-sectional studies;Study 3 explored the role of negative coping styles in social anxiety and adolescent problematic smartphone use based on Studies 1 and 2.Study 3 explored the intertemporal mediating role of negative coping in social anxiety and adolescent problematic smartphone use based on Studies 1 and 2.A questionnaire method was selected,using the Smartphone Addiction Scale-Simplified version revised by Bin Zhang et al.and the Social Anxiety Inventory revised by Scheier et al.and the Brief Coping Style Questionnaire developed by Yanning.With the first,second and third years of high school as the study population,906 questionnaires were distributed for the study,with 342 final valid data.The aim was to explore the causal relationship between smartphone use,social anxiety and negative coping styles in adolescent problem lines.The main results of this study are as follows:1.Social anxiety is positively associated with problematic smartphone use and negative coping styles;2.Social anxiety can be a delayed predictor of negative coping,with social anxiety acting as a positive predictor;3.Negative coping styles can delay the prediction of problematic smartphone use in adolescents,with negative coping styles acting as a positive predictor;4.Social anxiety at time point 1 positively predicted negative coping at time point 2,and negative coping at time point 2 positively predicted problematic adolescent smartphone use at time point 3;negative coping mediated the intertemporal relationship between social anxiety and problematic adolescent smartphone use.In summary,this study reveals the factors influencing adolescent problematic smartphone use and the relationship between adolescent problematic smartphone use,social anxiety and negative coping styles from a longitudinal perspective,and provides new suggestions and attempts for adolescent problematic smartphone use in terms of personal affective factors,cognitive and behavioral factors.