Problematic smartphone use relationship with pathological personality traits: Systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate relationships between problematic use of smartphone and pathological personality traits. To do so, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis when sufficient information was presented. The literature search was conducted based on a search strategy including the keywords “smartphone” and “personality”. Variations were not included as we seek to increase the breadth of the search. Random effects models were used to generate standardized coefficient for meta-analysis. In total, the present study included 5 papers covering 6.096 participants. Our findings indicated a scarcity of studies meeting the criteria used, but evidence regarding the relationship between problematic use of smartphone and neuroticism and impulsivity traits were found. Meta-analysis using levels of problematic use of smartphone and neuroticism and impulsivity measures showed a significant and small to moderate effect size, with an observed heterogeneity (I2) equal to 97.26% (impulsivity) and 58.89% (neuroticism). More research should be carried out in the area, allowing the accumulation of evidence considering several personality pathological traits. The impulsivity and neuroticism traits should be further investigated, including studies with psychiatric samples. Future studies should seek to establish a standard for study design and assessment tools to be used.

Attention deficit hyperactivity symptoms predict problematic mobile phone use

“…Smartphones have become an integral part of our lives. According to recent statistical reports, the number of smartphone users estimated for 2017 exceeded 2.3 billion and users were expected to exceed 5 billion by 2019 (Carvalho et al 2018). Previous studies found that 15% of young American adults between 18 and 29 years of age heavily depend on their smartphones for online access and that 46% consider their smartphone essential (Smith 2015).…”

Emotional Regulation Difficulties, Personality, and Problematic Smartphone Use

“…A poor ability to regulate emotional responses to negative experiences appears to be associated with greater problematic smartphone use in adults 6,11,12 and adolescents [13][14][15] . Similarly, broad personality traits, particularly high neuroticism and low conscientiousness, have also been found to predict greater problematic smartphone use [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] . While there is growing evidence that emotion regulation difficulties are associated with problematic smartphone use, there are two major gaps in this program of research.…”

Self and other ratings of problematic smartphone use: The role of personality and relationship type

“…Building on this, researchers have shown that personality-especially low conscientiousness and high neuroticism-is a strong correlate of self-reported problematic smartphone use (e.g. de Francisco Carvalho, Sette, & Ferrari, 2018;Gao, Xiang, Zhang, Zhang, & Mei, 2017;Horwood & Anglim, 2018).…”