A network analysis of problematic smartphone use symptoms in a student sample

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Behavioral Science
• Digital Health

Background:

• Established risk factors for problematic smartphone use (PSU) exist.
• Limited research has explored the structural organization of PSU symptoms.
• Network analysis offers a novel approach to understanding PSU symptomology.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify the core symptoms of problematic smartphone use (PSU) in a large student population.
• To investigate the network structure of PSU symptoms using advanced analytical methods.
• To compare PSU symptom networks across different student age groups.

Main Methods:

• Utilized network analysis on data from 26,950 grade 4 and 11,687 grade 8 students.
• Employed the Smartphone Addiction Proneness Scale (SAPS) for data collection.
• Calculated centrality indexes to determine core PSU symptoms and used permutation tests for network comparison.

Main Results:

• Loss of control and continued excessive use emerged as the primary core symptoms of PSU.
• These core symptoms were consistent across both grade 4 and grade 8 student samples.
• Network analysis provided quantifiable evidence for the central features of PSU.

Conclusions:

• Loss of control is a critical indicator of problematic smartphone use.
• Findings support and extend previous research on PSU through a network perspective.
• Results offer insights for developing targeted interventions and prevention programs for student PSU.