Hostname: page-component-54dcc4c588-2bdfx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-14T04:18:09.846Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Examining the associations between mental well-being, emotional regulation, social anxiety, and excessive smartphone use

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 August 2025

S. Csibi ,
N. Pirwani ,
M. Csibi  and
A. Szabo
S. Csibi*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Psychology, Department of Sciences and Letters, George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science, and Technology, Targu Mures, Romania
N. Pirwani
Affiliation:
Institute of Health Promotion and Sport Sciences, Faculty of Education and Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest
M. Csibi
Affiliation:
Institute of Special Education, Faculty of Pedagogy, Eszterházy Károly Catholic University, Eger, Hungary
A. Szabo
Affiliation:
Institute of Health Promotion and Sport Sciences, Faculty of Education and Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.
Introduction

Interpreting and perceiving adequately others’ emotions and the regulative processes within one’s mental health are barriers or predisposing factors in the development of smartphone addiction.

Objectives

The research explores the role of mental health, fear of negative perception, and assessment of other people’s emotions, which influence excessive smartphone use.

Methods

The survey included 400 respondents, of whom 104 were men (26%), 293 women (73.2%), and three persons (0.8%) who indicated a different gender. The mean age of the participants was 25.9 years (SD 10.9). Registered answers refer to demographic data (gender, age, smartphone usage habits) as well as psychological measures: a Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale (SABAS), a Mental Health Continuum Scale (MHC), an Assessing Emotions Scale (AES), and Fear of Negative Perception Questionnaire (FNPQ).

Results

Results show a significant negative correlation between the SABAS score and global mental well-being (r(398) = -.15, p = .005) and a significant positive correlation between the SABAS score and fear of negative perception (r(398) = .27, p = .001). Using SABAS’s cutoff point (23 points), non-problem (M = 59.6, SD = 11.4) and problem users (M = 55.8, SD = 11.3) differ significantly in global mental well-being (t(398) = -2.9, p = .004) and each of its sub-factors, emotional, social, and psychological well-being; as well as non-problem (M = 20, SD = 8.2) and problem users (M = 24.1, SD = 8.4) in fear of negative perception (t(398) = 4.3, p = .001). Relevant associations between emotional regulation and problematic smartphone use we did not find.

Conclusions

The resulting data will support to investigation of the role of mental health well-being factors in the development of problematic smartphone usage, besides prevention and psychotherapeutic intervention.

Disclosure of Interest

None Declared

Information

Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 68 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 33rd European Congress of Psychiatry , April 2025 , pp. S454
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of European Psychiatric Association
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.