Why are Individuals with Alexithymia Symptoms More Likely to Have Mobile Phone Addiction? The Multiple Mediating Roles of Social Interaction Anxiousness and Boredom Proneness

The relationship between childhood psychological abuse and depression in college students: a moderated mediation model

BACKGROUND

Childhood psychological abuse (CPA) are highly correlated with depression among college students, but the underlying mechanisms between variables need further exploration. This study aims to investigate internet addiction as a mediating factor and alexithymia as a moderating factor, in order to further elucidate the potential risk factors between CPA and depression among college students.

METHODS

A self-report survey was conducted among 1196 college students from four universities in three provinces in China. The survey included measures of CPA, internet addiction, alexithymia, and depression. Descriptive and correlational analyses were performed on these variables, and a moderated mediation model was constructed.

RESULTS

CPA was positively correlated with depression among college students, as well as internet addiction with alexithymia. Internet addiction partially mediated the relationship between CPA and depression among college students, while alexithymia strengthened the relationships among the paths in the moderated mediation model.

CONCLUSION

This study provides further insights into the psychological mechanisms underlying the relationship between CPA and depression among college students. Internet addiction serves as a mediating factor in this relationship, while alexithymia may enhance the strength of the relationships among the three variables.

Effects of use motivations and alexithymia on smartphone addiction: mediating role of insecure attachment

Background and objectives

Concern exists regarding the potential negative consequences of smartphone addiction among adolescents. This study investigated the effect of use motivations and alexithymia on smartphone addiction among adolescents with two insecure attachment styles, namely, anxious and avoidant attachment. These attachment styles were regarded as mediating variables.

Methods

Self-report measures were used to assess use motivations, alexithymia, insecure attachment and smartphone addiction. Data were collected from 748 junior high school students (382 males and 366 females) in northeastern China. Structural equation modeling was used to test our hypothesis that use motivations and alexithymia are directly associated with smartphone addiction and also through the mediation of attachment insecurities.

Results

The structural equation modeling results showed a strong and positive correlation between use motivation and smartphone addiction, with avoidant attachment mediating such a relationship. Meanwhile, the two components of alexithymia, difficulty identifying feelings and externally oriented thinking, positively predicted smartphone addiction, with avoidant attachment serving as a mediator of this effect. In addition, the mediation analysis results demonstrated that attachment anxiety mediated the connection between escape drive, extrinsically focused thought, and smartphone addiction.

Conclusion

Findings describe how attachment insecurities, smartphone use motivations, and alexithymia can interact with one another to predict smartphone addiction. Smartphone use motivation types and alexithymia symptoms should be taken into consideration when designing targeted intervention programs for smartphone addiction to address the different attachment needs of adolescents, which would be helpful to reduce their smartphone addiction behaviors.

Problematic smartphone use and specific problematic Internet uses among university students and associated predictive factors: a systematic review

University students are a high-risk population with problematic online behaviours that include generalized problematic Internet/smartphone use and specific problematic Internet uses (for example, social media or gaming). The study of their predictive factors is needed in order to develop preventative strategies. This systematic review aims to understand the current state of play by examining the terminology, assessment instruments, prevalence, and predictive factors associated with problematic smartphone use and specific problematic Internet uses in university students. A literature review was conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines using four major databases. A total of 117 studies were included, divided into four groups according to the domain of problem behaviour: problematic smartphone use (n = 67), problematic social media use (n = 39), Internet gaming disorder (n = 9), and problematic online pornography use (n = 2). Variability was found in terminology, assessment tools, and prevalence rates in the four groups. Ten predictors of problematic smartphone use, five predictors of problematic social media use, and one predictor of problematic online gaming were identified. Negative affectivity is found to be a common predictor for all three groups, while social media use, psychological well-being, and Fear of Missing Out are common to problematic smartphone and social media use. Our findings reaffirm the need to reach consistent diagnostic criteria in cyber addictions and allow us to make progress in the investigation of their predictive factors, thus allowing formulation of preventive strategies.

Correlations between smartphone addiction and alexithymia, attachment style, and subjective well-being: A meta-analysis

Background

Smartphone addiction (SA) has become a social problem that affects peoples’ quality of life and is frequently reported to be correlated with alexithymia, avoidant or anxious attachment styles, and subjective well-being. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between SA and alexithymia, attachment style, and subjective well-being.

Methods

A meta-analysis was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The following electronic databases were searched: PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, PsycINFO, PsycArticles, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), WANFANG DATA, and Chongqing VIP Information Co., Ltd. (VIP). Stata 16.0 was used to analyze the overall effect and test the moderating effect.

Results

One hundred and ten studies were included, involving a total of 96,680 participants. SA had a significantly high positive correlation with alexithymia (r = 0.40), attachment anxiety (r = 0.37), and negative emotions (r = 0.31), and a low positive correlation with attachment avoidance (r = 0.17). In addition, there was a high negative correlation between SA and subjective well-being (r = –0.33) and a low negative correlation between SA, life satisfaction (r = –0.17), and positive emotions (r = –0.18). A moderation analysis revealed that age significantly moderated the relationship between SA and positive emotions. The tools for measuring SA significantly moderated the relationship between SA, alexithymia, attachment anxiety, and subjective well-being. Meanwhile, subjective well-being measurement tools significantly moderated the relationships between SA, subjective well-being, and negative emotions.

Conclusion

SA was closely related to alexithymia, attachment style, and subjective well-being. In the future, longitudinal research can be conducted to better investigate the dynamic changes in the relationship between them.

Systematic review registration

[www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/], identifier [CRD42022334798].

Role of Alexithymia in Predicting Internet Novel Addiction through Boredom Proneness

With the development of the internet, people’s pursuit of reading entertainment has enriched internet novels, but the relevant influencing factors are still unclear. Therefore, we recruited 344 Chinese college students and employed a questionnaire survey to explore the relationship between alexithymia, boredom proneness, and internet novel addiction. The results showed that (1) there was no significant difference between female and male college students in terms of alexithymia and boredom proneness, whereas male college students had a higher total score of internet novel addiction than females. (2) There were significant positive correlations between alexithymia, boredom proneness, and internet novel addiction. (3) Boredom proneness played a partial mediating role in the impact of alexithymia on the internet novel addiction. Taken together, alexithymia may directly and indirectly predict internet novel addiction through boredom proneness.