Smartphone addiction and personality traits among Lebanese adults: the mediating role of self-esteem.
Psychol Health Med
; : 1-11, 2021 Oct 21.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2319139
ABSTRACT
Smartphone usage in Lebanon is increasing constantly. Lebanese population especially university students were described to be at a higher risk of smartphone addiction compared to the general population. To our knowledge there has been no study in the literature that investigated the mediating effect of self-esteem when assessing personality traits and smartphone addiction in young adults. The aim of our study was to assess factors associated with smartphone addiction and investigate the mediating role of self-esteem in the association between smartphone addiction and personality traits. A cross-sectional study was carried out between August and September 2020, during the lockdown period imposed by the government for the COVID-19 pandemic and that coincides with the summer season vacation for most Lebanese, using a sample of community-dwelling participants aged 18 to 29 years. The snowball technique was followed for participants' recruitment. The results showed that the mean age of the participants was 22.25 ± 2.87 years, with 70.9% females. The results showed that 216 (46.9%) of the participants had smartphone addiction. Higher negative emotionality (Beta = 0.17) was significantly associated with more smartphone addiction, whereas higher self-esteem (Beta = -0.37) and household crowding index (Beta = -1.58) were significantly associated with less smartphone addiction. Self-esteem mediated the association between negative emotionality and smartphone addiction. Lebanese young adults were found to be at a high risk of smartphone addiction. These results might serve as a first step towards implementing preventive measures to reduce smartphone addiction. Improving face to face communication, as well as setting specific time for cell phone usage might help reduce the development of addictive behaviors.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Language:
English
Journal:
Psychol Health Med
Journal subject:
Medicine
/
Health Services
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
13548506.2021.1995886
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