Examining the Empirical Links Between Digital Social Pressure, Personality, Psychological Distress, Social Support, Users’ Residential Living Conditions, and Smartphone Addiction

Abstract

Based on the recent scientific literature on the social ecology of smartphone addiction, we have examined the empirical relationship between social digital pressure (SDP) and smartphone addiction by also looking at the influence of users’ personalities, psychological distress, social support, and residential social living conditions on this addiction. The analyses were carried out on a nationally representative sample of 2,820 Spanish smartphone users. The results of the causal and multigroup models (structural equation model) indicated that the SDP was positively related to smartphone addiction. This influence was also independent of the effects on smartphone addiction of some personality traits (mainly low conscientiousness), high depression, low social support, and high social disorder in the neighborhood. SDP also showed an important mediating effect mainly for social factors (social support and social disorder in the neighborhood). SDP may be a relevant variable for understanding the potential risk of smartphone addiction in cases where there is a high need for social connection.

Perspectives and Experiences of Smartphone Overuse among University Students in Umm Al-Qura University (UQU), Saudi Arabia: A Qualitative Analysis

“…However, staff participants cited the fear of losing online friends as a leading cause of overusing smartphones among students. These findings correspond with the findings of previous studies which concluded that social pressure [ 72 , 73 , 74 ] and fear of losing a connection [ 75 , 76 ] were triggers for smartphone addiction. For instance, a study conducted among 2820 Spanish smartphone users found that higher levels of social pressure were associated with higher levels of smartphone addiction [ 73 ].…”

The association between smartphone use and sleep quality, psychological distress, and loneliness among health care students and workers in Saudi Arabia

“…A meta-analysis reported that smartphone addiction was associated with greater social distress levels among medical students [ 14 ]. However, another study suggested that persons experiencing psychological distress use their smartphone more often to decamp from negative feelings due to distress, indicating that distress may be an antecedent of smartphone addiction [ 13 ]. The current study and literature echo the association between smartphone addiction and psychological distress, which may lead to several negative implications that include, but are not limited to, attrition from study or work, impaired performance, problematic health behaviors, anxiety, panic disorder, and depression [ 51 ].…”

Smartphone Addiction, Social Support, and Cybercrime Victimization: A Discrete Survival and Growth Mixture Model

“…One seemingly harmless element that could be related to an increased risk of cyberfraud victimization would be the need for users to expand their communication capabilities with other users through the use of increasingly sophisticated applications. These communication applications are designed to retain and capture users' attention (Kushlev et al, 2019), so social digital pressure could be an undesirable outcome (Gui & Büchi, 2021;Herrero, Torres, Vivas, Arenas, et al, 2021) associated with the design of these applications. Recent empirical evidence suggests that social digital pressure may become an important antecedent of smartphone addiction (Herrero, Torres, Vivas, Arenas, et al, 2021).…”

“…These communication applications are designed to retain and capture users' attention (Kushlev et al, 2019), so social digital pressure could be an undesirable outcome (Gui & Büchi, 2021;Herrero, Torres, Vivas, Arenas, et al, 2021) associated with the design of these applications. Recent empirical evidence suggests that social digital pressure may become an important antecedent of smartphone addiction (Herrero, Torres, Vivas, Arenas, et al, 2021). Thus, personal tendencies to seek fun or connectivity with other users could lead to a higher risk of cyberfraud victimization.…”

“…Data from the Cybersecurity and Confidence in Spanish Households National Survey (CCSHNS) conducted by the National Observatory of Telecommunications and Information Society were used for this study. The CCSHNS is a nationally representative survey of Spanish internet users on cybersecurity conducted every six months (see Herrero, Torres, Vivas, Arenas, et al, 2021). The survey has a fixed set of questions that are evaluated every semester and other modules that may undergo modifications in the different waves.…”