ABSTRACT. I develop a conceptual framework based on a systematic and comprehensive literature review on psychological and contextual risk factors related to problematic smartphone use. Building my argument by drawing on data collected from Pew Research Center, I performed analyses and made estimates regarding % of adults who say the increasing use of mobile phones has had a good/no/a bad influence on education/the economy/our local culture/family cohesion/civility/politics/ morality/physical health/children and % of adults who say people should be very/somewhat/not concerned about children being exposed to harmful content/identity theft/exposure to false or incorrect information/mobile phone addiction/harassment or bullying/losing the ability to communicate face-to-face when using their mobile phones. The data for this research were gathered via an online survey questionnaire and were analyzed through structural equation modeling on a sample of 4,700 respondents.

Keywords: problematic smartphone use; depression; anxiety symptom severity

How to cite: Bratu, Sofia (2019). “Psychological and Contextual Risk Factors Related to Problematic Smartphone Use: Depression and Anxiety Symptom Severity,” Analysis and Metaphysics 18: 64–70. doi:10.22381/AM1820199

Received 20 May 2019 • Received in revised form 14 November 2019
Accepted 16 November 2019 • Available online 5 December 2019