Relationship between mindfulness, excessive reassurance seeking, impulsivity and problematic smartphone use

Abstract

Increasing use of smartphones is becoming a worldwide phenomenon and excessive, problematic smartphone use has detrimental consequences on individuals and the society. Despite accumulating evidence on mindfulness-based intervention and its positive impact on reducing problematic smartphone use, more is to be known about the underlying mechanism and the efficacy of mobile-delivered mindfulness intervention. This paper consisted of two studies. Study 1 investigated the mechanism underlying the relationship between trait mindfulness and problematic smartphone use, while excessive reassurance-seeking and impulsivity were hypothesized to mediate the inverse relationship. Qualtrics surveys were administered to 167 participants, the result showed that negative urgency and lack of perseverance significantly mediate the relationship between trait mindfulness and problematic smartphone use. Study 2 experimentally tested whether excessive reassurance-seeking and impulsivity mediated effect of mobile-delivered mindfulness intervention on reducing problematic smartphone use. A total of 53 participants were randomly assigned to either mobile-delivered mindfulness application named Headspace or active control condition with mindfulness audiobook. Result revealed significant increase in trait mindfulness and reduction on lack of perseverance and problematic smartphone use in both conditions, but the changes was not found to be greater in the Headspace group.