Smartphone use motivation and problematic smartphone use in a national representative sample of Chinese adolescents: The mediating roles of smartphone use time for various activities.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Previous studies on smartphone use motivation (SUM) and problematic smartphone use (PSU) have been limited in the utilization of regional samples of emerging adults (e.g., college students) and also in the foci on the direct association between SUM and PSU. To address such gaps, using data from a large, national representative sample of Chinese young adolescents and their parents this study examined the associations between adolescents' various types of SUM and their PSU, and also tested the potential mediating roles of smartphone use time (SUT) that adolescents spent on various activities in such associations. METHODS: A nationwide representative sample of 8,261 Chinese adolescents (Mage = 12.86 years old, SD = 1.76; 42.6% females) and their parents (49% mothers) participated in this survey study. RESULTS: Instrumental SUM (i.e., to expand knowledge or acquire information) was associated negatively with PSU via longer SUT spent on learning and shorter SUT spent on entertainment and communication. Self-expression SUM (i.e., to gain acceptance and recognition of others by maintaining or improving self-images) was associated with longer SUT spent on both learning and entertainment, which, in turn, predicted lower and higher levels of PSU, respectively. Last, hedonic SUM (i.e., to gain pleasure) was associated positively with PSU via longer SUT spent on entertainment and communication. DISCUSSION: These findings contribute to the literature by adding greater specificity in our understanding of the implications of SUM and SUT in the etiology of PSU during the critical life stage of adolescence in a Chinese cultural context.

A four-wave, cross-lagged model of problematic internet use and mental health among Chinese college students: Disaggregation of within-person and between-person effects.

Based on 4 annual waves of data from a large sample of Chinese college students (N = 2,329, Mage = 18.40 years old, SD = .85; 63.10% females), this study examines the within-person and between-person effects in the association between problematic Internet use (PIU) and mental health issues. Results of analyses using the developmental equilibrium model (i.e., an autoregressive, cross-lagged panel model) demonstrate a reciprocal positive association between PIU and mental health issues consistently across waves. In contrast, results of analyses utilizing the random intercept, cross-lagged panel model (i.e., a model that can disaggregate within-person and between-person effects) indicate a unidirectional positive within-person effect from PIU to mental health issues (rather than the reverse) consistently over time, while controlling for the between-person effects that exist when comparing different individuals. Such findings highlight the importance of disaggregating within-person and between-person effects in understanding the nature of the temporal dynamics of the association between PIU and mental health. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).