Vicious Cycle of Mobile Phone Addiction: The Unsuccessful Attempt of the Depressed to Alleviate Their Mood Through Mobile Phone

• In Event: Addiction to Communication Technologies

Abstract

The current study investigated the association between psychological ill-being, especially depression and mobile phone addiction through two different motivations—alleviation motivation and pass-time motivation. The hypothesized path model was based on the cognitive-behavioral model of pathological Internet use and we tested if the same proposition can be verified in mobile phone addiction. Findings suggest that those with a higher depression score are more likely to fall into the trap of mobile phone addiction through alleviation motivation and pass-time motivation. Among these two motivations, people who use mobile phone to relieve or alleviate their negative feelings are more prone to mobile phone addiction than those who use mobile phone habitually or ritualistically to pass time.

Authors

• Jung-Hyun Kim, Sogang University

• Mihye Seo, SUNY - Albany

• Prabu David, Washington State U