Disentangling the Impacts of Childhood Environment on Problematic Smartphone Use From the Life History Perspective

While childhood experiences have been well-recognized as salient predictors of addictive behaviors, this scoping review aims to evaluate whether life history (LH) theory can offer a valid and reliable theoretical framework for elucidating the influence of childhood environment on problematic smartphone use (PSU). In particular, it examines existing empirical evidence to clarify the underlying internal processes, if any, from the LH perspective.

Following the PRISMA guidelines, a scoping review was conducted by searching 5 databases and screening relevant studies on February 18, 2025.

Five articles, all of which were published in the last three years, met the inclusion criteria. Consistent empirical data were found in these five articles indicating the following: 1) significant correlations between childhood environment and PSU, with contradictory directions for the two dimensions of childhood environment; 2) LH strategy serving as a mediator between childhood environment and PSU; and 3) psychological processes, including motivation, emotion, and cognition, playing a role in the mediation, and their effects can be complex. It also identified some limitations of these studies, all of which were conducted as cross-sectional surveys of Chinese youth samples.

Despite being limited in number and design, empirical studies provide coherent support for the applicability of LH theory in understanding how childhood environment determines susceptibility to PSU in youth. Further investigation of the role(s) of other internal processes with multimodal and multi-method designs is called for.