Date of Award

January 2018

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

F. Richard Ferraro

Abstract

Given the ubiquity of smartphones, research has examined its impact on human behavior. Through prior studies have examined smartphones through the addiction framework, resulting in controversy of if habitual smartphone use is an addiction disorder, prior works have not examined the framework of how reliant someone is to their smartphone in their daily life. Additionally, prior works have not examined how smartphone dependence is related to texting dependence, state anxiety, trait anxiety, depression, neuroticism, extroversion, and loneliness. The literature has also not examined the method of communication that an individual prefers and how that relates to loneliness. We had 237 undergraduate students complete a multitude of measures related to the constructs listed above. All four subscales of smartphone dependence were significantly and positively correlated with their respective texting dependence subscale. Additionally, extroversion was significantly correlated with the excessive use subscale and neuroticism was significantly correlated with emotional reaction and relationship maintenance subscale. A majority of the smartphone dependence subscales were significantly correlated with measures of state/trait anxiety, depression and loneliness. Loneliness was not related to the quantity of phone calls or text messages made on the typical day, however loneliness was significantly higher in individuals who prefer asynchronous methods of communication. Numerous associations with psychopathology were made in this study and provide the literature with further support that as technology evolves over time, research must continue to evolve as well, examining the very real negative effects associated with smartphone usage. Implications and suggestions for future studies are discussed.

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