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CONNECTION BETWEEN STUDENTS’ SMARTPHONE ADDICTION AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS // Pedagogical Review. 2022. Issue 3 (43). P. 194-207

Smartphone addiction has become widespread in society. As a result of studying the personality traits and mental states of smartphone addicts, many negative consequences of this addiction have been identified that negatively affect the psychological well-being of its victims. The negative consequences of smartphone addiction (anxiety, depression, stress, dissatisfaction with life, etc.) contribute to the psychological distress of its victims. The purpose of the study is to identify in students, boys and girls, the alleged links between smartphone addiction and impulsivity, narcissism, lack of assertiveness, vulnerability to manipulation, dependence on social networks and its factors. Boys and girls have statistically significant relationships of smartphone addiction: positive - with impulsivity, addiction to social networks and all its factors («Psychological state», «Communication», «Receiving information») and negative - with assertiveness. Boys also have a positive relationship between smartphone addiction and sleep problems and negative relationships with narcissism and mood, while girls have a positive relationship with cravings for smoking. In girls, dependence on a smartphone is statistically significantly higher than dependence on a smartphone in boys. The “Loss of control” factor contributes to the greatest degree of dependence on the smartphone. The positive relationship between smartphone addiction and impulsivity and social media addiction is similar to the previously obtained foreign results. Established links between women and men depending on the smartphone with non-assertiveness and with all factors of dependence on social networks are new, both for domestic and foreign studies. The results obtained in this study can be used by curators, psychologists and social educators of the university to explain to students about the dangers of excessive smartphone use. The presence of a high degree of dependence on a smartphone may signal to these professionals the need to provide appropriate targeted assistance.

Keywords: smartphone addiction, impulsivity, assertiveness, narcissism, social media addiction, vulnerability to manipulation, students, males, females