Christian Spirituality and Smartphone Addiction in Adolescents: A Comparison of High-Risk, Potential-Risk, and Normal Control Groups

Association between religiosity or spirituality and internet addiction: A systematic review

Introduction

The literature provides evidence of religiosity being associated with physical and mental health, and also with behavioral addictions. This systematic review examines the data on the link between religiosity or spirituality and the emerging internet addictions.

Methods

A systematic literature review was conducted in the PubMed and Scopus databases to identify observational (cross-sectional, cohort, and case-control) studies conducted on adolescents and young adults to investigate the association between religiosity or spirituality and internet addiction. Of the 854 articles identified in the databases, 13 met our inclusion criteria and were included in our systematic review.

Results

Eleven of the 13 studies reviewed specifically investigated religiosity and internet addiction: six found an inverse association between religiosity and internet addiction; three found no evidence of any association; and one found a direct association. One study examining both religiosity and spirituality generated mixed results. Only one study investigated spirituality unrelated to religion, and found a direct association with internet addiction. Two of three studies specifically considering internet gaming addiction found it inversely associated with high levels of religiosity, while the third found no association.

Conclusion

This review supports a possible role for religiosity as a protective factor, as emerged from the majority of the studies examined. Religiosity also seemed to be associated with lower internet gaming rates among adolescents.

Spiritual Well-being as a Mediator between Internet Addiction and Alienation

One of the negative effects of internet addiction on individuals’ personal and social life is alienation. Spiritual well-being affects both internet addiction and the level of alienation. The present study investigated the mediator effect of spiritual well-being in the relationship between internet addiction and alienation. The study was conducted with 320 college students : 183 (57.2%) female and 137 (42.8%) male. The ages of participants ranged from 19 to 35, and the mean age was 20.74. Data were collected using a personal information form, an internet addiction scale, an alienation scale and a spiritual well-being scale. The analyses showed that internet addiction, alienation and spiritual well-being were correlated. Internet addiction significantly predicted alienation and spiritual well-being. Spiritual well-being significantly predicted alienation. It was found that spiritual well-being partially mediated (indirect effect = .1525) the relationship between internet addiction and alienation. These results showed that spiritual well-being can be an important variable in preventing alienation.

Smartphone apps for spiritual wellness

Smartphone applications (apps) to promote wellness constitute a burgeoning industry, part of broader societal developments in “digital wellness.” This paper examines the affordances and interaction styles in a selection of apps that support spiritual wellness, which is a foundational and scarcely acknowledged dimension of wellness. Spiritual wellness itself entails six dimensions: belief in an organizing force, connectedness, faith, compassion, meaning of life, and meaning of death. This paper surveys the smartphone applications currently available that support spiritual wellness and discusses how these apps relate to the six aspects of spiritual wellness, discussing one application in depth for each aspect. In all, the surveyed apps employ a small set of interaction styles, including: timers, notifiers, card decks, and journals. This framework contributes to our understanding of the space of spiritual digital wellness applications. Opportunities for further development and engagement in each aspect are discussed.

Exploring the Roles of Daily Spiritual Experiences, Self-Efficacy, and Gender in Shopping Addiction: A Moderated Mediation Model

Although spirituality has been considered a protective factor against shopping addiction, the mechanisms involved in this relationship are still poorly recognized. The present study aims to test the association of daily spiritual experiences, self-efficacy, and gender with shopping addiction. The sample consisted of 430 young adults (275 women and 155 men), with a mean age of 20.44 (SD = 1.70). The Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale, the General Self-Efficacy Scale, and the Bergen Shopping Addiction Scale were used to measure the study variables. The results showed that: (1) Daily spiritual experiences had a direct negative effect on shopping addiction; (2) daily spiritual experiences were positively related to self-efficacy, thought the effect was moderated by gender; (3) self-efficacy negatively correlated with a shopping addiction; and (4) the indirect effect of daily spiritual experiences on shopping addiction through self-efficacy was significant for women but insignificant for men. The findings confirm that spirituality protects young adults against developing a shopping addiction. They also suggest that when introducing spiritual issues into shopping addiction prevention or treatment programs, the gender-specific effects of spirituality on shopping addiction via self-efficacy should be considered to adequately utilize young women’s and men’s spiritual resources.

The effect of child-parent relationship therapy on social skills of Preschool Children: a semi-experimental study

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

Playing games for children is an instinct needed for ensuring happiness, it is a language for communication and self-expression, and a way to learn new things. Therefore, the present study aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of child-parent relationship therapy (CPRT) on the social skills of preschool children.

METHODS

An experimental study with a pretest-posttest design was conducted on 60 preschool children in Kordkuy City, Golestan Province, Iran in 2017 by using a simple random sampling method in both the experimental and control groups. Routine preschool education was performed in the control group and in the experimentalgroup it was done based on play therapy protocol in 10 sessions for 45-60 min. The social skills questionnaire authored by Gresham and Elliott was used as a data gathering tool. The data were analyzed by SPSS 16.

FINDINGS

An analysis of variance (ANOVA) test showed a significant difference between the scores of the experimental and control groups, which suggests that the CPRT model, a short-term plan of parental play therapy, can improve social skills in preschool children (p = 0/001).

CONCLUSION

Regarding the effectiveness of the CPRT, it is recommended that this method be used is an interactive-educational way in preschool centers of Iran.