Background: Problematic digital use has been strongly associated with psychological disturbance, but it is less researched among highly distressed populations such as prenatal mothers. The present study longitudinally explored the predictors of problematic smartphone use (PSPU) and problematic social media use (PSMU) among prenatal mothers to inform the development of preventive strategies. Methods: Participants comprised 137 prenatal mothers (mean age = 31.89 years, SD = 4.29), with approximately half of them having their first baby (50.4%). The level of social support, quality of life (QoL), and psychological factors (including stress, anxiety, and depression), were collected at Timepoint 1 of the second trimester, while the severity of PSPU and PSMU was collected at Timepoint 2 of the third trimester. Factors were entered into a hierarchical regression model for analysis, with Model 1 adding age and parity as covariates, Model 2 adding social support and QoL, and Model 3 adding psychological factors. Results: In predicting PSPU, only Model 2 was significant (R2 = 0.109, F = 7.953, p < 0.001), with lower social support and QoL (standardized coefficient β = −0.201, p = 0.026 and −0.193, p = 0.033) predicting higher PSPU. In predicting PSMU, only Model 3 was significant (R2 = 0.118, F = 3.631, p = 0.021), with higher depression (β = 0.321, p = 0.018) predicting higher PSMU. Conclusions: The findings suggest that among prenatal mothers, low social support and QoL may predict PSPU, while depressive symptoms may predict PSMU. The results inform strategies targeting maternal needs at the early stage of pregnancy to prevent the development of problematic digital use. Future studies may focus on the temporal changes of maternal problematic digital use from prenatal to postnatal, or follow-up examining its influence on parenting or child development to construct a more comprehensive understanding of these behaviors.
Huang et al. (Thu,) studied this question.