The Relationship Among Anxiety, Depression, and Problematic Smartphone Use in University Students: The Mediating Effect of Psychological Inflexibility

Premature Ovarian Insufficiency Is Associated with Increased Risk of Depression, Anxiety, and Poor Life Quality: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Background

Premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) seriously affects the reproductive health of women. Several studies have been conducted to show that POI appears to be associated with psychological and psychosocial problems, but whether POI increases the risk of mental health problems has not been identified. Therefore, this meta-analysis provides a preliminary systematic assessment of the studies published to date on the impact of POI on women's mental health.

Methods

We implemented a systematic search for studies on this topic up to October 2022. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confident intervals (CIs) of prevalence were used to assess the impacts of POI on various psychological factors, and the publication bias was assessed by Egger's test.

Results

A total of 15 articles comprising 5820 participants were included in this meta-analysis. POI was found to be related to higher risk of 13 psychological and psychosocial problems identified and classified into 3 domains: depression (OR = 1.61; 95% CI: 1.11-2.33), anxiety (OR = 3.74; 95% CI: 1.78-7.87), and poor life quality (OR = 2.55, 95% CI: 1.63-3.97).

Conclusion

This meta-analysis reveals that women with POI have an increased risk of depression, anxiety, and poor life quality. The marital status of POI may be a possible influencing factor for depression, meaning that the unmarried status in POI is at high risk of psychological and psychosocial problems. We should pay attention to the mental health of women with POI who were unmarried.

Influence of psychological inflexibility and mindfulness on hypersexuality and sexual satisfaction in a Spanish sample

Sexual satisfaction is tremendously relevant to wellbeing and quality of life. Inversely, hypersexuality may increase the risk of psychological distress, unprotected sex, and marital problems. This study attempts to explore the sociodemographic variables related to hypersexuality and the relationship between hypersexuality and sexual dissatisfaction with psychological inflexibility, cognitive fusion, body awareness, bodily dissociation, and mindfulness skills in the Spanish population. The sample was made up of 530 participants between 18 and 67 years of age. In total, 5.5% displayed hypersexuality, more likely in males, lesbians and gay men, singles, and students. An online survey was conducted including standardized questionnaires as follows: AAQ-II, CFQ, SBC, MAAS, NSSS-S, and HBI. Significant moderate positive correlations were found between hypersexuality and psychological inflexibility, cognitive fusion, and bodily dissociation, and an inverse moderate correlation with mindfulness skills. Moderate negative correlations were found between sexual satisfaction and bodily dissociation. Linear regression showed psychological inflexibility was the variable with the most weight on hypersexuality, while bodily dissociation was the variable with the most influence on sexual dissatisfaction. This study suggests lesbians and gay men, males, and singles may show an increased vulnerability toward engaging in hypersexual behavior and provides justification for interventions focused on psychological inflexibility and mindfulness skills to treat hypersexuality and improve sexual satisfaction.

Characteristics and predictors of family accommodation in Turkish individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder

BACKGROUND

Family accommodation (FA) is associated with disease severity and response to treatment rates in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and is therefore particularly important in this patient group. This study investigated the structure of FA and associated factors in a Turkish society sample.

METHODS

The study was carried out with 92 patients diagnosed with OCD for at least 1 year, who applied to Alanya ALKU Training and Research Hospital psychiatry outpatient clinic between February 2021 and March 2022. Sociodemographic data form, Family Accommodation Scale-Patient Form (FAS-PF), Dimensional Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (DOCS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ-II) were applied to all of the cases. Relatives filled out the Sociodemographic Data.

RESULTS

The mean age of the patients was 32.11 ± 11.56 years. Sixty-nine (75%) of the patients were women. Fifty (54.3%) patients weremarried. All participants reported FA behavior at least once in the previous week. FA exhibited no significant variation by sex (p = 0.679)or marital status (p = 0.256). Significant positive correlation was determined between DOCS-T (r = 0.370, p < 0.001), AAQ-II (r = 0.261, p = 0.013), BDI (r = 0.235, p = 0.024) and BAI (r = 0.342, p = 0.001) scores and the FAS-PF. In the regression analysis, only OCD disease severity predicted FA [(β = 0.295, p = 0.036, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) = 0.02 to 0.55)]. Higher FA scores were obtained in this study (23.93 ± 15.28) compared to previous research in Western societies (14.3 ± 15.2).

DISCUSSION

Clinicians should consider FA in the examination of OCD patients. High FA values for both frequency and severity suggestthat interventions directed toward FA may be associated with more positive outcomes in outpatient Turkish patients with OCD.

A comprehensive review on emerging trends in the dynamic evolution of digital addiction and depression

Introduction

Using digital addiction as an umbrella term to cover any type of addictions to digital technologies such as the internet, smartphones, social media, or video games, the current study aimed to reveal the intellectual structure and evolution of research addressing digital addiction-depression relationship.

Methods

The study combined bibliometric and science mapping analysis methods for this purpose. Data for the study was gathered from Web of Science Core Collection after a comprehensive process of data search/extraction, and 241 articles were included in the final data set. A period-based, comparative science mapping analysis was performed using the SciMAT software.

Results

The analysis of data over three periods, Period 1 (1983-2016), Period 2 (2017-2019), and Period 3 (2020-2022) showed that internet addiction was the most significant theme across all three periods, which was followed by social media addiction. Depression, which emerged as a significant theme during Period 1, was later covered under anxiety disorder theme. Research interest was mostly on factors related to both addiction and depression such as cognitive distortion, insomnia, loneliness, self-esteem, social support, alexithymia, as well as cybervictimization or academic performance.

Discussion

The results suggested that much research is warranted on the digital addiction-depression relationship in different age cohorts, especially children and elderly. Similarly, the current analysis showed that this line of research particularly focused on internet, gaming and social media addiction, and evidence with regard to other types of digital addiction or related compulsive behaviors was almost absent. In addition, research was mostly inclined to understanding cause-effect relationships, which is significant, but preventive strategies seemed to be barely addressed. Likewise, the smartphone addiction-depression relationship arguably garnered less research interest, so future research would contribute to the field in this respect.

Psychological resilience buffers the association between cell phone addiction and sleep quality among college students in Jiangsu Province, China

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Excessive use of cell phones can take up college students' time and energy, and the sleep quality will inevitably be affected. A high level of psychological resilience can help them to maintain a positive attitude and cope with stressful events. However, few studies were conducted to investigate the effects of psychological resilience buffering cell phone addiction on sleep quality. In our hypothesis, psychological toughness would mitigate the worsening impact of cell phone addiction on sleep quality.

METHODS

The sample consisted of 7,234 Chinese college students who completed an electronic questionnaire that included demographic characteristics, such as the Mobile Phone Addiction Index (MPAI), the Psychological Resilience Index (CD-RISC), and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). SPSS 26.0 was used for data analysis, the measurement data were described by x ¯ ± s for those conforming to normal distribution, and the comparison of means between groups was analyzed by group t-test or one-way ANOVA. Those that was not conforming to normal distribution were described by median M (P ₂₅, P ₇₅), and the comparison of M between groups was analyzed by Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis H test. Using Spearman correlation analysis, the associations between mobile phone addiction, psychological resilience, and sleep quality were evaluated. Using SPSS Process, the mediating role of psychological resilience was examined.

RESULTS

The mean scores of cell phone addiction and psychological resilience were 45.00 (SD = 13.59) and 60.58 (SD = 18.30), respectively; the sleep quality score M (P ₂₅, P ₇₅) was 5.0 (3.0, 7.0). Cell phone addiction among college students had a direct predictive effect on sleep quality (β = 0.260, P < 0.01), and psychological resilience had a negative correlation with both cell phone addiction and sleep quality (β = -0.073, P < 0.01, and β = -0.210, P < 0.01). Psychological resilience was responsible for a mediating effect value of 5.556% between cell phone addiction and sleep quality.

CONCLUSION

Cell phone addiction has an impact on sleep quality both directly and indirectly through the mediating effect of psychological resilience. Increased psychological resilience has the potential effect to buffer the exacerbating of cell phone addiction on sleep quality. These findings provide an evidence for cell phone addiction prevention, psychological management, and sleep improvement in China.

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.

Sleep latency and sleep disturbances mediates the association between nighttime cell phone use and psychological well-being in college students

To examine sleep latency and sleep disturbance as mediators between nighttime cell phone use variables (cell phone use for unstructured leisure activities and for accessing emotionally charged media content before sleep: CPU_BeforeBed and CPU_Arousal) and psychological well-being (PWB) of college students. 521 (74% female) undergraduate students from a large public university were surveyed using a validated self-report quantitative questionnaire assessing CPU variables, sleep quality, and PWB. Pearson correlation analyses were used to compute the correlation between CPU_BeforeBed, CPU_Arousal, sleep latency, and sleep disturbance. Ordinary least-squares regressions were conducted to assess the estimates of the relationships within the models. One-way ANOVA was used to see the difference between the groups. The partial eta squared was used to determine the effect size between the groups. The PROCESS method was used to perform mediation analyses. The sample consisted of undergraduate students between 18 and 29 years old, with an average age of 20 years (SD = 3.18). The sample was diverse in terms of ethnicity (49% Caucasian, 24% Latinx, 19% Asian, 3% African American, 1% Native American, 3% identified as "other") and the number of years the participants had been attending a 2 year or 4 year higher institution (38% incoming freshman, 19% sophomore, 17% junior, 14% senior, and 13% returning senior). The correlation between CPU_BeforeBed and PWB (α = - 0.044, p = 0.615), and the correlation between CPU_Arousal and PWB (α = - 0.061, p = 0.228) were not statistically significant. However, the correlation between sleep latency and PWB (α = - 0.140, p = 0.001), and the correlation between sleep disturbance and PWB (α = - 0.121, p = 0.005) were statistically significant. The mediation effect of sleep latency on the association between CPU_BeforeBed and PWB (Effect = - 0.0325, SE = 0.0145, p < 0.05), and the mediation effect of sleep disturbance on the association between CPU_Arousal and PWB (Effect = - 0.0214, SE = 0.0086, p < 0.05) were statistically significant. Sleep latency and sleep disturbance act as a mediator on the association between CPU_BeforeBed and PWB, and the association between CPU_Arousal and PWB. However, CPU_BeforeBed and CPU_Arousal did not have a direct impact on their PWB. These findings may help college students in regulating CPU habits before going to bed. These findings may also help medical practitioners make informed decisions about the use of cell phones for patients with sleep-related disorders.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s41105-022-00388-3.

Exploring Stress and Problematic Use of Short-Form Video Applications among Middle-Aged Chinese Adults: The Mediating Roles of Duration of Use and Flow Experience

The pervasiveness of smartphones and the popularity of short-form video applications (SVAs), such as TikTok, among middle-aged Chinese adults have raised concerns about problematic SVAs use. Although a plethora of research has examined problematic smartphone use among teenagers and young adults, scarce attention has been paid to the middle-aged group. This study integrates the psychopathological approach and the compensatory use approach to explicate problematic SVAs use among middle-aged Chinese adults. We aim to examine the relationship between stress and problematic SVAs use via the mediating roles of duration of use and flow experience. A total of 194 middle-aged adults from across the nation participated in an online survey. The results showed that stress was positively associated with problematic SVAs use. We also found that duration of use positively mediated the relationship between stress and problematic SVAs use. Furthermore, a serial mediation effect of duration of use and flow experience was found. The findings suggest that the aforementioned two approaches are complementary to each other in explicating problematic SVAs use, but the compensatory use approach explains more than the psychopathological approach does. Flow experience extends the original compensatory use approach and demonstrates the importance of incorporating techno-psychological predictors in understanding problematic SVAs use.