ABSTRACT. This article presents an empirical study carried out to evaluate and analyze the relationship between problematic smartphone use (PSU) severity, psychiatric symptoms, and behavioral addiction. Building our argument by drawing on data collected from ExactTarget, Pew Research Center, Screen Education, and YouGov, we performed analyses and made estimates regarding how PSU is associated with dysfunctional behaviors. Data collected from 5,100 respondents are tested against the research model by using structural equation modeling.

Keywords: problematic smartphone use; psychiatric symptom; behavioral addiction

How to cite: Lewis, J., Pera, A., and Balica, R. (2020). “Problematic Smartphone Use Severity, Psychiatric Symptoms, and Behavioral Addiction,” Analysis and Metaphysics 19: 66–72. doi:10.22381/AM1920207

Received 25 July 2020 • Received in revised form 27 September 2020
Accepted 29 September 2020 • Available online 1 October 2020