Developmental Trajectory Of Problematic Smartphone Use And Its Correlates And Mechanisms In College Students

Objectives: Problematic smartphone use(PSU)refers to the maladaptive smartphone use which poses impairments on the users.In recent years,the negative influences related to PSU have attracted the attention of the public and also have promoted studies in this research field.However,previous studies were mostly based on the cross-sectional design,and there have been few reports on the developmental trajectory of PSU and its influencing factors;secondly,previous studies were mostly based on the single variable-centered research perspective,ignoring the individual differences;additionally,previous studies have shown insufficient theoretical guidance on the formation mechanism and intervention strategies of PSU in college students.Therefore,by adopting the longitudinal research design,this study investigated the developmental trajectory of PSU with the combination of variable-centered and individual centered research perspectives,described the developmental trajectory,analyzed the mechanism for progression,and provided the theoretical suggestion for solving this issue.This study consists of three chapters.Chapter one explored the developmental trajectory,its differences in demographic features,and the potential latent classes of PSU trajectory in college students;based on the Compensatory Internet Use Theory(CIUT)and previous research findings and as an extension of chapter one,chapter two investigated the impacts of negative emotions(depression,anxiety),intolerance of uncertainty,and gender on the developmental trajectory of PSU and its latent classes;based on the Interaction of Person-Affection-Cognition-Execution model(IPACE),chapter three examined the effect paths of intolerance of uncertainty,negative emotions(depression,anxiety)on PSU,and further,the construct of psychological hardiness was added to the models to test its moderation effects for attenuating the total impacts of intolerance of uncertainty on PSU,which aimed to provide the intervention targets and the theoretical guidance for formulating intervention plans.Methods: The method of cluster random sampling was adopted to recruit undergraduate students from two universities in Liaoning Province to join in the survey.From November2021 to July 2022,the method of repeated measurement was used to collect data three times with an interval of 3 months each.A total of 694 participants finally completed all the three surveys.Scales included Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version(SAS-SV),Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale(IUS),Depression,Anxiety and Stress Scale-21(DASS21),and Psychological Hardiness Scale(PHS).First,descriptive statistics were conducted using SPSS22 software;from the variable-centered perspective,Mplus 7software was used to construct a latent growth model(LGM)to investigate the developmental trajectory of PSU in college students;on this basis,demographic variables(age,gender,grades,whether or not the only child of the family,hometown,family income,father’s education level,mother’s education level)were added to examine the demographic differences in the developmental trajectory of PSU;from the individual-centered perspective,a latent class growth model(LCGM)was constructed,and the heterogeneity differences in the developmental trajectory of PSU were analyzed and the latent growth classes were identified.Secondly,the Harman single factor test was used to complete the common method bias test,and the results showed that there was no significant common method bias in this study.From the variable-centered perspective,Mplus7 software was used to construct a parallel process latent growth model(PP-LGM)to investigate the co-developmental relationships between the negative emotions(depression,anxiety)and PSU;intolerance of uncertainty was then added to examine its effects on negative emotions(depression,anxiety)and PSU trajectory;through repeated measures ANOVA,the differences of intolerance of uncertainty,depression,and anxiety in the latent growth classes and in the observation time points were investigated;from the individual-centered perspective,the multinomial logistic regression analysis was conducted to test the effects of intolerance of uncertainty,depression,anxiety,and gender on the categorizations of the latent classes of the developmental trajectory of PSU.Finally,SPSS PROCESS(Model 4)was used to construct longitudinal structural equation models involving T1 intolerance of uncertainty,T2 negative emotions(depression,anxiety),and T3 PSU,which aimed to investigate the mediation effects of negative emotions(depression,anxiety)between intolerance of uncertainty and PSU;then,psychological hardiness total score and its dimensions(perseverance,control,commitment,challenge)were added separately(using SPSS PROCESS Model 22)to investigate their moderating effects in these models.Results: Chapter one: 1.The results of the LGM revealed that PSU in college students showed a significant downward trend during the observation period(slope mean=-2.302,SE=0.236,P<0.001).2.Among the demographic variables,there was only difference in the trajectory of PSU between the gender groups(P < 0.05);the between-group comparison showed that the initial level of PSU among male students was higher than that of their female counterparts(P<0.05),but the rate of decline in the male group was greater(P<0.001).3.The results of the LCGM showed that there were heterogeneous differences in the developmental trajectories of PSU,and the latent growth classes can be divided into four groups: namely,“high risk-stable group”(6.48%),“low risk-decline group”(35.74%),“moderate risk-stable group”(42.51%),and “high risk-rapid decline group”(15.27%).Chapter two: 1.There were co-developmental relations between depression(P<0.001)/anxiety(P<0.001)and PSU in college students.2.Intolerance of uncertainty had significant positive predictive effects on depression/anxiety and PSU developmental trajectory.3.The results of repeated measurement ANOVA showed that there were significant differences in intolerance of uncertainty(P<0.001),depression(P<0.001),and anxiety(P<0.001)among the latent growth classes as well as the different observation time points.4.Multinomial logistic regression analysis showed that intolerance of uncertainty,depression,anxiety,and gender were associated with the categorization of PSU developmental trajectory in college students.Compared to the “moderate risk-stable group”,the higher the level of intolerance of uncertainty at T1,the significantly higher the probability of belonging to the “high risk-stable group”,which was 1.043 times the original(OR=1.043,P<0.05),and the significantly lower the probability of belonging to the “low risk-decline group”,0.924 times the original(OR=0.924,P<0.001);the higher the level of depression at T1,the greater the probability of belonging to the “high risk-stable group”,which was 1.102 times the original(OR=1.102,P<0.01);the higher the level of anxiety at T1,the lower the probability of belonging to the “low risk-decline group”,which is 0.897 times the original(OR=0.897,P<0.01).Compared to female students,the probability of male students belonging to the “low risk-decline group” increased to 1.55 times(OR=1.55,P<0.05),while the probability of belonging to the “high risk rapidly decreasing group”also increased to 2.447 times(OR=2.447,P<0.001).Chapter three: 1.The mediation effect in T1 intolerance of uncertainty→T2depression→T3 PSU was 0.076,95% confidence interval 0.039 to 0.116;the mediation effect in T1 intolerance of uncertainty→T2 anxiety→T3 PSU was 0.068,95% confidence interval 0.032 to 0.113.2.Psychological hardiness as a total score(β=-0.004,P<0.001)and its dimensions of perseverance(β=-0.019,P<0.001),control(β=-0.015 P<0.001),commitment(β=-0.016,P<0.01),challenge(β=-0.012,P<0.01)at T1 could separately moderated the relations between intolerance of uncertainty at T1 and depression at T2;psychological hardiness as a total score(β=-0.003,P < 0.001)and its dimensions of perseverance(β=-0.013,P<0.01),control(β=-0.011,P=0.001),commitment(β=-0.011,P<0.05),challenge(β=-0.011,P<0.05)at T1 could separately moderated the relations between intolerance of uncertainty at T1 and anxiety at T2.Conclusions: The developmental trajectory of PSU in college students showed a significant downward trend and difference in gender,and there were heterogeneous differences;gender,intolerance of uncertainty,negative emotions(depression,anxiety)significantly predicted the developmental trajectory of PSU and the categorization of latent growth classes;the relations between intolerance of uncertainty and PSU were partially mediated by depression/anxiety,that is to say,intolerance of uncertainty firstly intrigued the affective responses of negative emotions(depression,anxiety)and then they together influenced the progression of PSU;psychological hardiness could significantly moderate the paths between intolerance of uncertainty and depression/anxiety,and in this way,psychological hardiness exerted buffering effects in the impact of intolerance of uncertainty on PSU.These findings deepened the understanding of the developmental trend of PSU in the college students,and clarified the effect paths and the causal relationships between these influencing factors and PSU,which would lay the foundation for formulating the prevention and intervention plans for PSU in college students.