The Smartphone Addiction Measure (SAM): Subscales, Validity, and Reliability.

Dependence on smartphones continues to grow, with young adults showing the highest usage. In fact, reliance on smartphones may indicate a behavioral addiction, a concept gaining interest in both research and clinical practice. However, valid and reliable assessments of smartphone addiction are needed. To this end, we developed the Smartphone Addiction Measure (SAM) with an initial sample (113 participants; 32 males, 81 females) and assessed the validity and reliability of this new measure. Principle components analysis with an additional sample (286 participants; 78 males, 207 females, 1 other) revealed four factors generally associated with addiction, including salience, mood modification, withdrawal, and conflict, thus providing support for the SAM as a valid measure of addictive behavior related to smartphone use. Analyses also revealed good validity and reliability (221 participants; 38 males, 179 females, 4 other) that sufficiently support the SAM as a psychometrically sound assessment for smartphone addiction.

Social buffering by God: prayer and measures of stress.

Social buffering is characterized by attenuation of stress in the presence of others, with supportive individuals providing superior buffering. We were interested in learning if the implied presence of a supportive entity, God, would reduce acute stress. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: prayer, encouraging self-talk, and control. They were subsequently placed in a stressful situation. Self ratings of stress were lower among the prayer and self-talk conditions relative to controls. Systolic and diastolic blood pressures only among those who prayed were lower than controls; however, prayer and self-talk did not differ. Prayer alone did not significantly reduce stress, perhaps because the majority of students in the prayer condition did not consider reading a prayer to constitute praying.

Social buffering in rats: prolactin attenuation of active interaction.

Stress may result when the present environment is interpreted as threatening, and stress is known to increase the prolactin-secretory response. In the present study, rats (N=83) were exposed to a conditioned-fear paradigm (environment paired with footshock), and on testing day, rats were exposed to the experimental chamber without shock while alone (Alone n=16), with an object (Object n=17), with a euthanized conspecific (Euthanized n=16), or with a social partner (Social n=19). The control group (Control n=15) was exposed to the experimental chamber but was never shocked. The Control group had significantly lower levels of prolactin than the Alone, Object, and Euthanized groups; however, the Control group's levels of prolactin were not significantly different than that of the Social group, which was significantly lower than that for the Alone group. Social interaction decreased fear independent of the distraction provided by a stimulus in the chamber. Active touch appeared to be crucial for social buffering to occur.