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Boredom proneness and rumination mediate relationships between depression and anxiety with problematic smartphone use severity

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Abstract

Problematic smartphone use (PSU) symptoms are related to mental health symptoms, such as depression and anxiety. However, less investigated are current psychopathology-related processes in mediating these relationships. We analyzed boredom proneness and rumination, two variables involving negative affectivity, as possible mediators between mental health and PSU severity. We recruited 1097 Chinese university students to complete online questionnaires measuring levels of PSU, smartphone use frequency (SUF), depressive and anxious symptoms, boredom proneness and rumination. Structural equation modeling demonstrated that boredom proneness and rumination were significantly related to both SUF and PSU severity. SUF inversely mediated relations between boredom proneness and PSU severity, but positively accounted for relations between rumination and PSU levels. This is one of few studies testing boredom proneness or rumination in relation to PSU severity. Boredom proneness and rumination may be important variables involving negative affectivity, explaining why some depressed or anxious individuals overuse their smartphones.

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Data Availability

The dataset generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Business School, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610064, People’s Republic of China

    Yan Wang

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Toledo, 2801 West Bancroft Street, Toledo, OH, 43606, USA

    Yan Wang & Jon D. Elhai

  3. Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, No. 57-1 Wujiayao Street, Hexi District, Tianjin, 300074, China

    Haibo Yang

  4. Department of Molecular Psychology, Institute of Psychology and Education, Ulm University, 89081, Ulm, Germany

    Christian Montag

  5. neuSCAN Laboratory, Clinical Hospital of the Chengdu Brain Science Institute and Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China

    Christian Montag

  6. Department of Psychiatry, University of Toledo, 3000 Arlington Avenue, Toledo, OH, 43614, USA

    Jon D. Elhai

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  1. Yan Wang
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  2. Haibo Yang
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  3. Christian Montag
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  4. Jon D. Elhai
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Correspondence to Haibo Yang.

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Conflict of Interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest with this paper’s study.

Outside the scope of the present paper, Dr. Elhai notes that he receives royalties for several books published on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD); is a paid, full-time faculty member at University of Toledo; is a paid, visiting scientist at Tianjin Normal University; occasionally serves as a paid, expert witness on PTSD legal cases; and receives grant research funding from the U.S. National Institutes of Health and Department of Defense. Dr. Montag mentions that he has received (to Ulm University and earlier University of Bonn) grants from agencies such as the German Research Foundation (DFG). Dr. Montag has performed grant reviews for several agencies; has edited journal sections and articles; has given academic lectures in clinical or scientific venues or companies; and has generated books or book chapters for publishers of mental health texts. For some of these activities he received royalties, but never from the gaming or social media industry. Dr. Montag mentions that he is currently part of a discussion circle (Digitalität und Verantwortung: https://about.fb.com/de/news/h/gespraechskreis-digitalitaet-und-verantwortung/) debating ethical questions linked to social media, digitalization and society/democracy at Facebook. In this context, he receives no salary for his activities. Finally, he mentions that he currently functions as independent scientist on the scientific advisory board of the Nymphenburg group. This activity is financially compensated.

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Reprints from this paper can be requested from Jon Elhai through his website: www.jon-elhai.com

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Wang, Y., Yang, H., Montag, C. et al. Boredom proneness and rumination mediate relationships between depression and anxiety with problematic smartphone use severity. Curr Psychol 41, 5287–5297 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-01052-0

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