COVID-19 anxiety symptoms associated with problematic smartphone use severity in Chinese adults.
J Affect Disord
; 274: 576-582, 2020 09 01.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-381870
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
COVID-19 is fast-spreading and potentially fatal, introducing home quarantine, social distancing, and increased internet usage globally. We investigated COVID-19 anxiety, general anxiety and depression symptoms, and their impact on problematic smartphone use (PSU) severityMETHODS:
Participants were 908 residents of a large Eastern Chinese city, surveyed from late-February to mid-March, 2020. We administered online measures including the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21, Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version, and items querying COVID-19-related news exposure and threat of death. Additionally, participants rated anxiety using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-7 with reference to COVID-19.RESULTS:
COVID-19 anxiety correlated with severity of PSU, depression and anxiety. Using established cut-off scores, 12% of participants were identified with at least moderate depression, and 24% with moderate anxiety. Using structural equation modeling, COVID-19 anxiety related to PSU severity, mediating relations between general anxiety and PSU severity. However, controlling PSU for general anxiety and depression severity, COVID-19 anxiety no longer predicted PSU severity.LIMITATIONS:
Limitations include the cross-sectional research design and reliance on data from only one country.CONCLUSIONS:
Results are discussed in context of the I-PACE model of excessive internet use. While COVID-19 anxiety is likely a global anxiety-provoking event, other everyday worries and anxiety are additionally clinically important in driving excessive internet use.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Anxiety Disorders
/
Pneumonia, Viral
/
Behavior, Addictive
/
Coronavirus Infections
/
Smartphone
/
Betacoronavirus
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Qualitative research
/
Randomized controlled trials
Topics:
Long Covid
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
English
Journal:
J Affect Disord
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
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