Smartphone Use and Psychological Well-being: the Moderating Role of Emotion Regulation

The Relationship between Emotion Regulation (ER) and Problematic Smartphone Use (PSU): A Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses

“…In assessing the risk of bias, a modified McMaster Critical Appraisal Tool for quantitative studies was employed and measured in terms of percentage according to the number of criteria fulfilled. As shown in Table S1 , most studies have relatively good qualities, whereby 1 study scored 100% [ 40 ], 6 studies 91% [ 49 , 50 , 51 , 56 , 57 , 58 ], 12 studies scored 82% [ 47 , 48 , 52 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 ], and another 2 studies score 73% [ 53 , 68 ] (refer to Table S1 of Supplementary file ).…”

“…The studies employed the usage of designations such as “emotional dysregulation”, “emotional control difficulty”, “dysfunctional emotion regulation”, and “expressive suppression” to refer to maladaptive ER or ED, whilst the term “cognitive reappraisal” is used to refer to adaptive ER. Nine of the studies used DERS [ 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 53 , 58 , 59 , 61 , 65 ], seven studies used ERQ [ 40 , 47 , 52 , 56 , 57 , 64 , 68 ], one study [ 56 ] other than using ERQ, also used an additional scale, which is the Ruminative Thought Style Questionnaire (RTSQ), two studies used CERQ [ 63 , 67 ], one study used the Mood Regulation Scale (MR) [ 60 ], one study used EMSS [ 62 ], and one study used ERSA [ 66 ]. All scales are validated.…”

“…Terms such as “problematic smartphone use”, “smartphone addiction”, “smartphone overuse”, “smartphone amount use”, “smartphone use frequency”, and “nomophobia” were summarized according to findings as “problematic smartphone use”, abbreviated as “PSU”. Twelve studies used SAS (among them, seven studies used the short version) [ 40 , 47 , 48 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 56 , 57 , 63 , 65 , 66 , 67 ], Elhai et al [ 57 ] and Elhai and Contractor [ 56 ], who used SAS, also used an additional validated smartphone usage scale developed by the author, three studies used SPAI [ 49 , 50 , 64 ], in which Fortes et al [ 64 ] also used the Habitual Smartphone Use Questionnaire other than SPAI, one study used the Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q) [ 62 ], one study used the Adolescent Preoccupation with Screen Scale adapted to adult smartphone use [ 58 ], one study used TMD-brief [ 59 ], one study used the Smartphone Addiction Scale (SA) [ 60 ], one study used the Addictive Patterns of Use Scale (APU) [ 61 ], and one study used the Mobile Phone Use Scale [ 68 ]. All scales are validated except for the Habitual Smartphone Use Questionnaire, which was developed exclusively for the study by Fortes et al [ 64 ].…”

“…Elhai and Contractor [ 56 ] reported a significant positive correlation of ED with the “positive anticipation”, “cyberspace-oriented relationship”, and “tolerance” domains of SAS, while no correlation was found in the “daily life disturbance” and “withdrawal” domains of SAS, and “frequency of use” measured by a validated self-developed scale. Fortes et al [ 64 ] reported a significant positive correlation of ED with the “functional impairment” dimension of the Smartphone Addiction Inventory (SPAI) and no correlation with the “amount of use”. Interestingly, Hoffner and Lee [ 68 ] reported a positive correlation between “expressive suppression” with PSU only in the content of entertainment or information, but not PSU on interpersonal contact and social support.…”

Smartphone addiction and cross-cultural adjustment among overseas Chinese students: The role of emotion regulation beliefs and strategies

“…The way individuals regulate their emotions may have an impact on the consequences of their smartphone use ( Fortes et al, 2021 ). It has been shown that expression suppression positively predicts smartphone use problems ( Rozgonjuk and Elhai, 2021 ), cognitive reappraisal is positively associated with internet addiction ( Trumello et al, 2018 ).…”