The Influence of Interpersonal Sensitivity on Smartphone Addiction: A Moderated Mediation Model

Abstract

Smartphone addiction is a behavioral dependence characterized by excessive or compulsive Internet use and a preoccupation with and loss of control over this use that interferes with an individual’s daily functioning and results in negative mental processes and subsequent social consequences. Smartphone addiction can negatively impact physical and mental health as well as academic performance, sleep quality, and even interpersonal interaction and relationships. Based on the compensatory Internet use theory, this study explores the relationship between interpersonal sensitivity and smartphone addiction in college students and constructed a moderated mediation model. A sample of 881 college students was tested using the Interpersonal Sensitivity Scale, Smart Phone Addiction Scale, Fear of Missing Out Scale, and Relational Self-Construal Scale. We used AMOS 26.0 to conduct a confirmatory factor analysis and employed SPSS 24.0 to test our hypotheses. The results indicated that (1) interpersonal sensitivity was positively related to the fear of missing out and smartphone addiction; (2) the fear of missing out mediated the relationship between interpersonal sensitivity and mobile phone addiction; (3) relational self-construal moderated interpersonal sensitivity and the fear of missing out; and (4) relational self-construal moderated the mediating effect of the fear of missing out on the relationship between interpersonal sensitivity and smartphone addiction. We concluded that the fear of missing out and relational self-construal play a moderated mediation effect on the relationship between smartphone addiction and interpersonal sensitivity. Our findings provided some theoretical implications. Specifically, in addition to proposing a new approach for the study of smartphone addiction, we also introduced a theoretical basis for psychotherapy and intervention of smartphone addiction. In addition, this study also provides some insightful ideas for educational practitioners.

Interpersonal sensitivity on college freshmen’s depression: A moderated moderation model of psychological capital and family support

“…Research has discovered that a high quality of peer relationships benefits the mental health of adolescents (25). The study among Chinese college students indicated that interpersonal sensitivity positively relates to negative emotions (26) and contributes to individuals' mobile phone addictions (27), which could predict depression (28). Nonetheless, only a few explorations about the relationship between interpersonal sensitivity and depression among Chinese college freshmen have been conducted.…”

Problematic Smartphone Use and Problematic Social Media Use: The Predictive Role of Self-Construal and the Mediating Effect of Fear Missing Out

“…Moreover, in their research on private university students in Lebanon, Hawi and Samaha ( 34 ) found that only independent self-construal was a significant and negative predictor of PSMU. However, as a personality trait, self-construal has been explored only with PSMU, but has not been widely considered in relation to its association with PSU ( 35 ). Therefore, investigating whether or not self-construal affects PSU is one of the objectives of the present paper.…”

“…Furthermore, the extant literature has demonstrated that FoMO can mediate psychological variables (i.e., depression, envy) and PSU ( 3 , 41 ). A survey study also found that FoMO and relational (interdependent) self-construal had a moderated mediation effect on the relationship between smartphone addiction and interpersonal sensitivity (i.e., a personality tendency characterized by constantly worrying about negative social evaluation) ( 35 ). Although FoMO has been conceptualized in the framework of the self-determination theory ( 36 ), the relationship between self-construal and FoMO is still unclear.…”

Fear of missing out (FOMO) associates with reduced cortical thickness in core regions of the posterior default mode network and higher levels of problematic smartphone and social media use

“…On the one hand, FOMO has for instance been associated with development of problematic usage of a number of internet applications, including problematic internet usage (Röttinger et al, 2021) and smartphone addiction (Alinejad, Parizad, Yarmohammadi, & Radfar, 2022). However, on the other hand, an increasing number of studies underscore the role of social and self-related cognitions in this association such that the association between FOMO and smartphone addiction is mediated by loneliness (Alinejad et al, 2022) while FOMO mediates the association between parental support, self-construal, self-concept clarity or interpersonal sensitivity with problematic smartphone use (Kim, 2022; Lin et al, 2021; Servidio, Sinatra, Griffiths, & Monacis, 2021).…”