Abstract

The excessive use of smartphones can lead to significant physical, psychological, social, and academic problems and may create the conditions for the development of pervasive emotional and behavioral disorders. Over the past two decades, substantial scientific evidence has accumulated regarding the factors associated with smartphone addiction, as well as the consequences of this dysfunctional behavioral pattern. The correlational study presented here aimed to determine the predictive role of depression, anxiety, and psychological stress in explaining smartphone addiction among preadolescents and adolescents. Additionally, the study sought to identify the contribution of smartphone addiction to the occurrence of sleep disturbances. A standardized protocol (k = 71 items) was administered to 356 students in grades 5-8 to operationalize the main variables included in regression models, where smartphone addiction and sleep quality served as the criterion variables. Gender and participants’ place of residence had statistically significant effects on sleep quality but not on smartphone addiction. Depression, anxiety, and psychological stress demonstrated moderate positive correlations with smartphone addiction. Smartphone addiction was positively associated with lower sleep quality. Regression models revealed significant predictive contributions from depression, anxiety, and psychological stress, which together explained 20.7% to 23.6% of the variance in students’ smartphone addiction score. Conversely, smartphone addiction accounted for 20.2% of the variance in students’ sleep quality. The study’s findings are interpreted in relation to mechanisms that may explain the links between the factors contributing to smartphone addiction and the consequences of this problematic behavior.

Keywords: adolescents; anxiety; depression; preadolescents; psychological stress; sleep quality; smartphone addiction