| dc.description.abstract | Introduction: The Smartphone Addiction (SA) has caused negative consequences in today's society, but has not yet been recognized as a disease, which hinders the diagnostic and treatment of affected individuals. The recognition of associated factors, neuropsychological characteristics and physiological characteristics may constitute empirical evidence of the validity of the construct as a disorder. SA was associated with being a student, female gender, young age, high household income, high impulsiveness, low self-control, and difficulty in postponing rewards. The factors associated with SA in the Brazilian population have not yet been studied and the association between SA, satisfaction with social support and quality of life has not been investigated. Those are factors that impact in functionality and may contribute to the differentiation between functional use and dependence on smartphones. Previous studies have also shown that individuals with dependency syndromes have a bias in the decision-making process because they prefer short-term advantageous choices, even if they cause long-term harm. This bias may contribute to the onset and maintenance of dependencies, but it has not yet been analyzed in SA. Objectives: To analyze the factors associated with SA in university students and in the general population; to evaluate the decision-making process under risk and under ambiguity in SA and to measure physiological parameters during the decision-making tests. Methods: In the first study, 415 university students were interviewed through a questionnaire that analyzed SA, Facebook addiction, impulsivity, social support, sensation- seeking and psychiatric disorders. In the second study, 3399 individuals from the general population were interviewed by a questionnaire that analyzed SA, quality of life, and psychiatric disorders. The third study examined 100 university students who underwent the Iowa Gambling Test (IGT) and the Game of Dice Task (GDT) concurrent with the measurement of skin conductance response (SCR). Results: The prevalence of SA was 44% in university students and 25% in the general population. In college students, SA was associated with female gender, young age, Facebook addiction, Substance Use Disorders, Anxiety Disorders, high impulsiveness and low satisfaction with social support. The overlap between SA and Facebook addiction was 30%. Individuals with both disorders had a higher prevalence of substance use disorders, depression and anxiety disorders; less satisfaction with social support; and greater impulsivity. In the general population, SA was associated with young ages, unmarried marital status, white race, average or high monthly family income, ADHD, low physical and psychological quality of life. The association between female gender and SA was moderated by the low psychological quality of life. The smartphone dependents presented an impairment in decision making under ambiguity, without prejudice in decision making under risk. Changes in physiological parameters were characterized by decreased SCR before disadvantageous decisions and after punishment, and increased SCR after rewards. These changes suggest difficulty in recognizing disadvantageous alternatives, high sensitivity to rewards, and low sensitivity to punishments. Conclusions: SA is almost twice as prevalent in college students when compared to the general population. It is more common in young women, both in the general population and in college students. The improvement of psychological quality of life and the increase of social support in women can be strategies of prevention of SA. The impairment in decision making in SA is similar to that found in other chemical and behavioral dependencies and may contribute to the development and maintenance of additive behavior. Therefore, the associated factors, neuropsychological characteristics and physiological characteristics of SA suggest that it is a syndrome of behavioral dependence similar to those that have already been recognized as diseases. | |
