Annoni, Anna Maria and Marciano, L. and Petrocchi, S. and Camerini, A.L. (2020) The role of dispositional trust, social anxiety and smartphone use in predicting smartphone addiction. In: 70th Annual International Communication Association Conference (ICA), 21-25.05.2020, Australia (Webinar). (Unpublished)
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
The widespread diffusion of smartphones has increased the risk of developing a dysfunctional attachment to the device, yet a maladaptive pattern of use also depends on a set of psychological, social, and behavioral vulnerabilities. An excessive amount of time spent on the smartphone is considered a risk factor in developing and reinforcing smartphone addiction. Moreover, higher levels of trust in others may lead to more frequent online interactions behaviours. Hence, the willingness to connect and the tendency to seek immediate excitement, influenced by a set of individual dispositions including social anxiety and dispositional trust, potentially leads to increased online involvement, smartphone use and smartphone addiction. In this study, we used data collected in spring 2019 from a sample of 160 young adults (M age = 23.38, SD = 3.99, 50% male) to determine the relationship between social anxiety and smartphone addiction, mediated by smartphone use. Furthermore, we aimed to test whether the relationships between social anxiety, smartphone use and addiction were moderated by the degree of dispositional trust in others. The results showed that social anxiety was significantly and positively related to smartphone addiction, however, smartphone use did not mediate the relationship between social anxiety and addiction. Dispositional trust moderated the relationships between increased levels of use and smartphone addiction, with higher levels of trust predicting higher levels of smartphone addiction. Moreover, dispositional trust also moderated the relationship between social anxiety and smartphone addition, strengthening the effect of high levels of social anxiety on smartphone addiction. Our results underlined that highly anxious individuals might develop a dysfunctional attachment to the device, allowing them to avoid potentially stressful interpersonal face-to-face interactions. Similarly, heavy smartphone users, with the tendency of trusting in others, may show higher levels of smartphone addiction because of their constant seeking for connections. Higher levels of trust may lead to a misperception of security and safety in online environments, by encouraging and promoting online interaction seeking and reinforcing a vicious cycle that leads to smartphone addiction. Drawing from our results, future research should investigate better high levels of trust as a risk factor in the online environment, especially for socially anxious individuals and heavy-users.
| Item Type: | Article in conference proceedings or Presentation at a conference (Lecture) |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | Subjects Allied to Medicine |
| Department/unit: | Dipartimento economia aziendale, sanità e sociale > Centro competenze anziani |
| Depositing User: | Roberta Torriani |
| Date Deposited: | 22 Mar 2021 08:54 |
| Last Modified: | 06 Apr 2021 08:19 |
| URI: | http://repository.supsi.ch/id/eprint/12409 |
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |