Distracted on duty: A theory-based exploration of influences leading to mobile phone distracted riding among food delivery workers.

Using mobile phones while riding is a form of distracted riding that significantly elevates crash risk. Regrettably, the factors contributing to mobile phone use while riding (MPUWR) among food delivery riders remain under-researched. Addressing this literature gap, the current study employs the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model and various socio-economic factors to examine the determinants of MPUWR. The research incorporates data from 558 delivery workers in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The study utilizes two analytical methods to empirically test the hypotheses, considering non-linear relationships between variables: Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) and Artificial Neural Network (ANN). The results reveal mixed impacts of factors connected to job resources. Although social support appears to deter MPUWR, work autonomy and rewards seemingly encourage it. Furthermore, a predisposition towards risk-taking behaviour significantly impacts the frequency of mobile phone usage among delivery riders. Interestingly, riders with higher incomes and those who have previously been fined by the police exhibit more frequent mobile phone use. The findings of this study present valuable insights into the crucial factors to be addressed when designing interventions aimed at reducing phone use among food delivery riders.

Network analysis of social anxiety and problematic mobile phone use in Chinese adolescents: A longitudinal study.

Social anxiety is a common comorbid factor of problematic mobile phone use, but the relationship between them from the inside structure has been underexplored. This two-wave longitudinal study aims to identify the central symptoms of problematic mobile phone use and social anxiety, respectively, as well as the bridge symptoms between the two disorders. Furthermore, this study examined the time and gender differences. A total of 3,294 Chinese adolescents were recruited during two waves (T1: January 2023; T2: August 2023), and completed the questionnaires of social anxiety and problematic mobile phone use. Through network analysis, the results showed that 1) the central symptom of problematic mobile phone use was "loss of control" both at T1 and T2, 2) the central symptom of social anxiety was "fear of negative evaluation" both at T1 and T2, and 3) the bridge symptom between social anxiety and problematic mobile phone use was "withdrawal" both at T1 and T2. Moreover, the network comparison test indicated that the nodes of social anxiety were more strongly associated with "craving", "loss of control", and "negative life consequences" of problematic mobile phone use at T2 than at T1. The nodes of social anxiety were more strongly associated with "negative life consequences" of problematic mobile phone use for boys than for girls, while the "fear of negative evaluation" was more strongly associated with "loss of control" for girls than for boys. These findings provide new scientific basis for interventions targeting adolescents who are susceptible to social anxiety and problematic mobile phone use.

Social media does not elicit a physiological stress response as measured by heart rate and salivary cortisol over 20-minute sessions of cell phone use.

The pervasive use of social media has raised concerns about its potential detrimental effects on physical and mental health. Others have demonstrated a relationship between social media use and anxiety, depression, and psychosocial stress. In light of these studies, we examined physiological indicators of stress (heart rate to measure autonomic nervous system activation and cortisol to assess activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis) associated with social media use and investigated possible moderating influences of sex, age, and psychological parameters. We collected physiological data from 59 subjects ranging in age from 13 to 55 across two cell phone treatments: social media use and a pre-selected YouTube playlist. Heart rate was measured using arm-band heart rate monitors before and during cell phone treatments, and saliva was collected for later cortisol analysis (by enzyme immunoassay) before and after each of the two cell phone treatments. To disentangle the effects of cell phone treatment from order of treatment, we used a crossover design in which participants were randomized to treatment order. Our study uncovered a significant period effect suggesting that both heart rate and cortisol decreased over the duration of our experiment, irrespective of the type of cell phone activity or the order of treatments. There was no indication that age, sex, habits of social media use, or psychometric parameters moderated the physiological response to cell phone activities. Our data suggest that 20-minute bouts of social media use or YouTube viewing do not elicit a physiological stress response.

Análisis de las interrupciones generadas por el uso de los smartphones entre los profesionales sanitarios de Atención Primaria / Analysis of the interruptions generated by the use of smartphones among Primary Care Health professionals

Objetivo: Analizar el uso particular de los smartphones entre los profesionales sanitarios de Atención Primaria durante el acto asistencial y sus consecuencias. Diseño: Estudio multicéntrico, transversal en un entorno de atención primaria, realizado en 3 fases: encuesta a profesionales, checklist de profesionales y encuesta a pacientes. Participantes: Profesionales sanitarios de atención primaria de la Gerencia Territorial de Atención Primaria de Barcelona (encuesta online) y profesionales sanitarios (checklist) y pacientes (encuesta a los pacientes) de 2equipos de Atención Primaria de Barcelona ciudad. Mediciones principales: Análisis descriptivo bivariado de las variables de las distintas encuestas. Utilización del teléfono móvil en la consulta, tiempo, motivo, tipo de uso y percepción de adecuación. Características de las interrupciones. Resultados: En relación con los pacientes, un 31% considera que el profesional sanitario solo debe consultar el teléfono móvil si es para resolver algún aspecto de su motivo de consulta y un 10% lo considera una falta de respeto. El 18% de los pacientes describen interrupciones, siendo la mayoría de entre 10 y 30 s de duración y considerándolas en su mayoría evitables. En relación con los profesionales, la mayoría (96%) afirma tener el teléfono móvil en la consulta y de manera silenciada (77%), y reconociendo solo el 2% su uso en presencia del paciente, lo que contrasta con lo descrito por los pacientes. Además, el 80% de los profesionales afirman pedir permiso para utilizarlo, contrastando con lo que refieren los pacientes (50%). El 85% de los profesionales consideran su uso como adecuado...(AU)

Objective: To analyze the particular use of smartphones among Primary Care Health professionals during the care act and its consequences. Design: Multicenter, cross-sectional study in a primary care setting, carried out in 3phases: survey of professionals, checklist of professionals and survey of patients. Participants: Primary Care Health professionals from the Territorial Primary Care Management of Barcelona (online survey) and health professionals (checklist) and patients (patient survey) from 2primary care teams in Barcelona city. Main measurements: Bivariate descriptive analysis of the variables from the different surveys. Use of the mobile phone in the consultation, time, reason, type of use and perception of appropriateness. Characteristics of interruptions. Results: In relation to patients, 31% consider that the health professional should only consult the mobile phone if it is to resolve some aspect of their reason for consultation and 10% consider it a lack of respect. Eighteen percent of patients describe interruptions, the majority lasting between 10 and 30s and considering them mostly avoidable. In relation to professionals, the majority (96%) claim to have their mobile phone in the consultation and on mute (77%), with only 2% recognizing its use in the presence of the patient, which is in line with what the patients describe. Furthermore, 80% of professionals say they ask permission to use it, contrasting with what patients report (50%). Eighty-five percent of professionals consider its use appropriate. Conclusions: The use of mobile phones is perceived by patients as an interruption that can affect the care act, generating dissatisfaction, which must be taken into account by health professionals. Healthcare organizations should establish recommendations regarding the use of mobile phones in consultations.

Propiedades psicométricas de la “Escala de percepción del riesgo para el uso de la tecnología” en niños y adolescentes / Psychometric properties of the “Risk perception scale for the use of technology” in children and adolescents

Los objetivos de esta investigación son: 1) crear un instrumento válido y fiable que permita evaluar la percepción del riesgo que tienen del uso de la tecnología (móvil, Internet y videojuegos) niños y adolescentes; y 2) analizar la frecuencia con la que se dan algunas conductas de riesgo en función de la percepción, el uso de la tecnología y la edad. 807 niños y adolescentes de la provincia de Córdoba (España) respondieron una batería ad hoc que recoge información sobre datos sociodemográficos; uso problemático del móvil, internet y videojuegos; y percepción de riesgo con la “Escala de percepción del riesgo del uso de la tecnología para niños y adolescentes” (EPRUT). Los resultados indican que a partir del análisis factorial, la EPRUT cuenta con tres dimensiones que hacen referencia al móvil, Internet y videojuegos. Se han observado diferencias en función de la edad y la percepción de riesgo. Evaluar la percepción del riesgo favorecerá la detección y el desarrollo de programas de prevención de uso de la tecnología en niños y adolescentes.(AU)

The aim of this work is 1) to create a valid, reliable instrument with which toevaluate the risk perception of children and adolescents regarding their use oftechnology (cell phones, Internet, and video games); and 2) to analyze thefrequency with which some risk behaviors occur in relation to perception,technology use and age. 807 children and adolescents from the province ofCordoba (Spain) answered an ad hoc questionnaire with several instruments:sociodemographic data; problematic use of cell phones, Internet, and video games;and risk perception with the Scale on Risk Perception of Technology Use forchildren and adolescents (SRPTU). The results obtained from the factor analysisreveal that the RPSTU has three dimensions, related to cell phones, Internet, andvideo games, respectively. Differences were observed in the relationship betweenage and risk perception, with older people having the highest risk perception.Assessing risk perception will favor the detection and development of preventionprograms for the use of technology in children and adolescents.(AU)

Driving and mobile phone use: Work addiction predicts hazardous but not excessive mobile phone use in a longitudinal study of young adults.

Background and objectives: Work addiction (WA), characterized by dimensions such as overcommitment, difficulties in detachment from work, and work-life imbalance, is presumed to be associated with increased smartphone usage, even during risky activities like driving. The study investigated the connection between WA and future problematic and hazardous smartphone use, considering personality factors: anxiety, rumination, and worry. Methods: A three-wave longitudinal study (N = 1,866) was conducted from March to July 2019, June to September 2020, and June to November 2021, involving a representative sample of 18-34-year-old residents in Hungary's capital. The study employed Hungarian versions of the Bergen Work Addiction Scale, Problematic Mobile Phone Use Questionnaire, Ruminative Response Scale, Anxiety subscale of the Brief Symptom Inventory 18, and Penn-State Worry Questionnaire. Additionally, author-developed questions on mobile phone use while driving were included. Results: At baseline, those at risk for WA showed more frequent mobile phone use while driving at both time points 2 and 3 compared to the non-risk group. Path analyses revealed rumination, anxiety at time 1, and worry at time 2 as significant mediators between baseline WA and mobile phone use while driving at time 3. However, when analyzing all three mediators together, only anxiety at time 1 and worry at time 2 remained significant. Discussion and conclusion: This study demonstrates that WA predicts future mobile phone use while driving through mediation by anxiety and worry. Our findings add to the growing evidence highlighting the detrimental aspects of WA, emphasizing the need for improved prevention and treatment strategies.

Mobile phone use and brain tumour risk - COSMOS, a prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Each new generation of mobile phone technology has triggered discussions about potential carcinogenicity from exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF). Available evidence has been insufficient to conclude about long-term and heavy mobile phone use, limited by differential recall and selection bias, or crude exposure assessment. The Cohort Study on Mobile Phones and Health (COSMOS) was specifically designed to overcome these shortcomings. METHODS: We recruited participants in Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the UK 2007-2012. The baseline questionnaire assessed lifetime history of mobile phone use. Participants were followed through population-based cancer registers to identify glioma, meningioma, and acoustic neuroma cases during follow-up. Non-differential exposure misclassification was reduced by adjusting estimates of mobile phone call-time through regression calibration methods based on self-reported data and objective operator-recorded information at baseline. Hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for glioma, meningioma, and acoustic neuroma in relation to lifetime history of mobile phone use were estimated with Cox regression models with attained age as the underlying time-scale, adjusted for country, sex, educational level, and marital status. RESULTS: 264,574 participants accrued 1,836,479 person-years. During a median follow-up of 7.12 years, 149 glioma, 89 meningioma, and 29 incident cases of acoustic neuroma were diagnosed. The adjusted HR per 100 regression-calibrated cumulative hours of mobile phone call-time was 1.00 (95 % CI 0.98-1.02) for glioma, 1.01 (95 % CI 0.96-1.06) for meningioma, and 1.02 (95 % CI 0.99-1.06) for acoustic neuroma. For glioma, the HR for ≥ 1908 regression-calibrated cumulative hours (90th percentile cut-point) was 1.07 (95 % CI 0.62-1.86). Over 15 years of mobile phone use was not associated with an increased tumour risk; for glioma the HR was 0.97 (95 % CI 0.62-1.52). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that the cumulative amount of mobile phone use is not associated with the risk of developing glioma, meningioma, or acoustic neuroma.

Different types of mobile phone use while driving and influencing factors on intention and behavior: Insights from an expanded theory of planned behavior.

Mobile phone use while driving (MPUWD) is a significant concern due to its negative impact on road safety. This cross-sectional study aimed to assess different types of MPUWD and identify factors influencing intention and behavior among drivers in Zahedan. A total of 392 participants provided information on demographic and driving characteristics, as well as constructs derived from the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) augmented with moral norms. Findings revealed that a majority of drivers (86.4%) engaged in MPUWD, primarily involving calling, using applications, and texting. However, most participants did not intend to use their phones while driving in the following week. Multiple regression analysis identified age, receiving driving fines, subjective norm, and perceived behavior control as significant predictors of intention for MPUWD. Additionally, factors such as age, receiving driving fines, driving hours, car gearbox type, attitude, perceived behavior control, behavioral intention, and moral norm were significant predictors of actual MPUWD. Older participants demonstrated better behavior in various mobile phone activities while driving. Overall, the study emphasized that the main TPB constructs and moral norms have a greater influence compared to other variables in predicting MPUWD. Perceived behavioral control was the most important predictor of the intention and behavior of MPUWD. Understanding these factors can guide efforts to discourage MPUWD through targeted interventions and strategies to promote safer driving practices.

"It's okay because I'm just driving": an exploration of self-reported mobile phone use among Mexican drivers.

Introduction: Technological advancements have the potential to enhance people's quality of life, but their misuse can have a detrimental impact on safety. A notable example is the escalating issue of distracted driving resulting from the use of mobile phones behind the wheel, leading to severe crashes and injuries. Despite these concerns, both drivers' usage patterns and their risk-related associations remain scarcely documented in Mexico. Therefore, this descriptive study aimed to examine the mobile phone usage of Mexican drivers, its relationships to risk awareness and near-miss/crash involvement, and the self-reported underlying reasons for this behavior. Methods: This cross-sectional study utilized a sample of 1,353 licensed Mexican drivers who took part in a nationwide series of interviews regarding their onboard phone use settings. Results: A significant percentage of drivers (96.8%) recognize using a mobile phone while driving as high-risk behavior. However, only 7.4% reported completely avoiding its use while driving, with 22.4% identified as high-frequency users. Frequency was also found positively associated with the self-reported rate of near-misses and crashes. Furthermore, qualitative data analysis highlights the emergence of a 'sense of urgency' to attend to phone-related tasks in response to daily demands and life dynamics, offering a potential explanation for this behavior. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest common patterns of onboard mobile use among Mexican drivers concerning driving situations and associated risks. This underscores the need for increased efforts to discourage onboard phone use in the country.

Headache in the international cohort study of mobile phone use and health (COSMOS) in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Headache is a common condition with a substantial burden of disease worldwide. Concerns have been raised over the potential impact of long-term mobile phone use on headache due to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs). We explored prospectively the association between mobile phone use at baseline (2009-2012) and headache at follow-up (2015-2018) by analysing pooled data consisting of the Dutch and UK cohorts of the Cohort Study of Mobile Phone Use and Health (COSMOS) (N = 78,437). Frequency of headache, migraine, and information on mobile phone use, including use of hands-free devices and frequency of texting, were self-reported. We collected objective operator data to obtain regression calibrated estimates of voice call duration. In the model mutually adjusted for call-time and text messaging, participants in the high category of call-time showed an adjusted odds ratio (OR) of 1.04 (95 % CI: 0.94-1.15), with no clear trend of reporting headache with increasing call-time. However, we found an increased risk of weekly headache (OR = 1.40, 95 % CI: 1.25-1.56) in the high category of text messaging, with a clear increase in reporting headache with increasing texting. Due to the negligible exposure to RF-EMFs from texting, our results suggest that mechanisms other than RF-EMFs are responsible for the increased risk of headache that we found among mobile phone users.

Causal associations between digital device use and suicide risk: A bidirectional Mendelian randomization study.

BACKGROUND: The popularity of digital devices seems to provide a new observational variable for early identification and prevention of suicide with the development of the information technology era. Nevertheless, whether it is the use of digital devices that alters suicide risk or suicide risk manifests itself through change digital device use needs to be further explored. METHODS: Bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis was used to explore potential causal relationships in the perspective of genetic prediction. We collected publicly available digital device use and suicide risk summary statistics genome-wide association data from UK Biobank, Neale Lab and FinnGen genetic databases. We used inverse variance weighting methods to assess MR estimates. For robustness of the results, we performed further tests of heterogeneity and pleiotropy. RESULTS: In the Phase 1 results, we did not observe any effect of the length of digital device use on the suicide risk, while the results of Phase 2 suggested a significant positive association between suicide risk and the length of mobile phone use (IVW OR, 1.04; 95%CI, 1.01-1.06; P = 0.002), but this significance disappeared after adjusting for confounders of mental and affective disorders. CONCLUSIONS: In this bidirectional MR analysis, we observed that People at high risk of suicide may be more addicted to digital device use, but more detailed GWAS data and research methods to validate this finding are required.

Effects of aerobic exercise or Tai Chi Chuan interventions on problematic mobile phone use and the potential role of intestinal flora: A multi-arm randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Problematic use of mobile phones (PMPU) has been described as a serious public health issue. METHODS: This study was a parallel three-arm randomized controlled trial and has completed registration (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05843591). Ninety college students with PMPU were randomly assigned to the aerobic exercise group (AE group, n = 30), the Tai Chi Chuan group (TCC group, n = 30), or the wait-list control group (WLC group, n = 30). At the end of the intervention, stool samples from the study participants were collected for biological analysis based on 16 S rDNA amplicon sequencing technology. The primary outcome was addiction symptoms assessed by the Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version (SAS-SV). The secondary outcomes are emotional symptoms, physical symptoms, and flora species. RESULTS: Compared with the WLC group, the AE and TCC groups showed reductions in PMPU levels, physical and mental fatigue, but there was no difference between the two groups. Moreover, the effect of increasing self-esteem embodied in the TCC group was not present in the AE group. Compared to the WLC group, the relative abundance of Bacteroidaceae and Bacteroides were lower in the AE group, while the relative abundance of Erysipelotrichaceae and Alistipes were lower in the TCC group. And the relative abundance of Bacteroidaceae, Bacteroides, and Alistipes were significantly and negatively correlated with the decline in PMPU scores. CONCLUSION: AE or TCC is an effective, safe and efficient intervention for college students with PMPU, providing some physiological and psychological benefits and having some impact on their intestinal flora.

Exploring the Behaviour Change Wheel and the Theoretical Domains Framework in interventions for mobile phone driver distraction: A scoping review.

Mobile phone use while driving remains a significant traffic safety concern. Although numerous interventions have been developed to address it, there is a gap in the synthesis of relevant information through a comprehensive behaviour change lens. This scoping review uses the Behaviour Change Wheel (BCW) and the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) to examine the literature to (a) identify behavioural constructs targeted in interventions for mobile phone use while driving, (b) determine if the intervention success varied by sociodemographic group (e.g., age, gender, driving experience), and (c) map interventions to TDF domains to highlight areas for future research. Following the PRISMA extension for scoping reviews, we searched seven databases and identified 5,202 articles. After screening, 50 articles detailing 56 studies met the following inclusion criteria: (a) intervention studies, (b) providing details on methods and results, (c) written in English, and (d) targeting any driver behaviour related to mobile phone use while driving with a bottom-up approach, using not regulation or law enforcement, but individuals' psychological processes, such as cognitive, behavioural, and emotional. Findings show that most interventions targeted young drivers and were typically effective. Except for a few studies, the effectiveness of interventions targeting different sociodemographic groups either remained untested or revealed nonsignificant differences. This finding points to a gap in the literature, indicating a need for further investigation into the efficacy of interventions for different groups, and for tailoring and testing them accordingly. The interventions also often targeted multiple TDF domains, complicating the interpretation of the relative efficacy of specific domains. Most frequently targeted domains included beliefs and consequences, emotions, knowledge, social influence, social/professional role and identity, and behavioural regulation. Physical skills and optimism domains were not targeted in any intervention. Further, almost all interventions addressed deliberate engagement in mobile phone distractions, while the automatic and fast processes involved in such behaviours were often overlooked. Mobile phone distractions are in part habitual behaviours, yet the existing mitigation efforts mostly assumed intentional engagement. More focus on the habitual nature of mobile phone distractions is needed.

Influence of distracted driving of online car-hailing drivers on overall driving performance.

The distraction affects driving performance and induces serious safety issues. To better understand distracted driving, this study examines the influence of distracted driving on overall driving performance. This paper analyzes the distraction behavior (mobile phone use, entertainment activities, and passenger interference) under three driving tasks. The statistical results show that viewing or sending messages is common during driving. Smoking, phone calls, and talking to passengers are evident in cruising, ride request and drop-off, respectively. Then, overall driving performance is proposed based on velocity, longitudinal acceleration (longacc) and yaw_rate. It is divided into three categories, high, medium, and low, by k-means algorithms. The average speed increases from low to high performance; however, the longacc and yaw_rate decrease. Finally, the influence of distracted driving on overall driving performance is analyzed using C4.5 algorithm. The result shows that when time is peak, the probability of high performance (HP) is higher than off-peak. The possibility of HP increases with the increase of duration; the number of, talking to passengers, listening to music or radio, eating; the duration of, viewing or sending messages, phone calls; but reduces with the increase of the number of phone calls. These findings provide theoretical support for driving performance evaluation.

Mobile Phone Use and Risks of Overall and 25 Site-Specific Cancers: A Prospective Study from the UK Biobank Study.

BACKGROUND: The association between mobile phone use and incident cancers remains uncertain. We aimed to investigate the relationships of mobile phone use with incident overall and 25 site-specific cancers in men and women. METHODS: A total of 431,861 participants ages 38 to 73 years without prior cancers were included from the UK Biobank. Of these, 46.7% were male. Participants who used a mobile phone at least once per week to make or receive calls were defined as mobile phone users. The study outcomes were incident overall and 25 site-specific cancers. RESULTS: During a median follow-up of 10.7 years, 35,401 (17.5%) men and 30,865 (13.4%) women developed overall cancer. Mobile phone use was significantly associated with higher risks of incident overall cancer [HR, 1.09; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.06-1.12], nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC; HR, 1.08; 95% CI: 1.03-1.14), urinary tract cancer (HR, 1.18; 95% CI:1.05-1.32), and prostate cancer (HR, 1.19; 95% CI: 1.13-1.25) in men, and incident overall cancer (HR, 1.03; 95% CI: 1.00-1.06), NMSC (HR, 1.07; 95% CI: 1.01-1.13), and vulva cancer (HR, 1.74; 95% CI: 1.00-3.02) in women, but not with other cancers. Among mobile phone users, there was a dose-response relationship of length of mobile phone use with incident NMSC in men and women, and prostate cancer in men (all Ptrend < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: There was a dose-response relationship of length of mobile phone use with incident NMSC in men and women, and prostate cancer in men. IMPACT: Our findings underscore the importance of limiting mobile phone use or keeping a distance from mobile phone for primary prevention of NMSC and prostate cancer.

Problematic mobile phone use as impulsive choice: Development and empirical verification of a reinforcer-pathology model.

Problematic mobile phone use is characterized by its "impulsive" nature; users engage in it despite their negative attitude toward it. From a behavioral-economic perspective, this attitude-behavior discrepancy is generated by competing contingencies that involve smaller-sooner social reinforcers associated with mobile phone use and larger-later prosocial reinforcers potentially compromised by phone use. Based on this conceptualization, the reinforcer-pathology model of problematic mobile phone use is proposed, which posits that such phone use stems from excessive delay discounting of the social and prosocial reinforcers and/or excessive demand for the social reinforcers. A secondary data analysis of previously published studies was conducted, with the novel addition of principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis of these data. The results generated evidence that supports the reinforcer-pathology model proposed in this article. Based on the theoretical analyses and accumulated empirical evidence, theory-driven prevention and intervention strategies for problematic mobile phone use are proposed. Overall, the reinforcer-pathology model of problematic mobile phone use provides a comprehensive framework for understanding and addressing this growing issue.

Problematic mobile phone use and time management disposition in Chinese college students: the chain mediating role of sleep quality and cognitive flexibility.

BACKGROUND: With the widespread adoption of smartphones, there has been a notable increase in problematic mobile phone use (PMPU), particularly prevalent among college students. Research suggests that apart from being associated with various problematic behaviors, this excessive mobile phone use might also have an impact on individual personality traits, such as time management disposition (TMD), which plays a significant role in individual motivation and psychological well-being. While previous literature has identified a negative relationship between PMPU and TMD, few studies have delved into the underlying mediating mechanism. Thus, the main aim of this study was to examine the chain mediating effect of sleep quality and cognitive flexibility on the relationship between PMPU and TMD. METHODS: A total of 921 Chinese college students completed the questionnaire. We collected basic information about the participants and assessed their PMPU, TMD, sleep quality, and cognitive flexibility using the Problematic Mobile Phone Use Scale-10, Adolescence Time Management Disposition Inventory, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index scale and Cognitive Flexibility Inventory. RESULTS: The results indicated a significant correlation among all the variables. Moreover, we noted that both sleep quality and cognitive flexibility fully mediated the association between PMPU and TMD. Additionally, a chain mediating effect involving sleep quality and flexibility in this relationship was also identified. CONCLUSION: We found that sleep quality and cognitive flexibility had a series of multiple mediating effects in the pathway from PMPU to TMD, and both significantly mediated TMD. These findings indicated that impaired cognitive function and sleep quality may contribute to time management difficulties resulting from PMPU, suggesting that problematic behaviors like PMPU can impact one's personality traits. Therefore, interventions should be enhanced to mitigate the adverse effects of PMPU.