Relationship between smartphone addiction and interpersonal distress among college students: the mediating role of security and moderating role of the big five personality traits

With the development of mobile phone intelligence, smartphone addiction has become increasingly prominent, making college students more susceptible to smartphone addiction. Therefore, delving deeper into the psychological mechanisms of college students’ smartphone addiction is of great significance to ensure reasonable and mindful smartphone use and prevent smartphone addiction among college students. This study investigated 1,737 college students. The Smartphone Internet Addiction Scale, Interpersonal Relationship Diagnostic Scale, Security Scale, and Big Five Personality Questionnaire were used to examine the impact of smartphone addiction on college students’ interpersonal relationships, the mediating role of security, and the moderating role of the Big Five personality traits. The results showed that there was a significant correlation between smartphone addiction, interpersonal distress, security, and the Big Five personality traits. The mediating effect test showed that the sense of security had a masking effect on the relationship between smartphone addiction and interpersonal distress. Moreover, neuroticism, agreeableness and consciousness had moderating effects on the relationship between smartphone addiction and interpersonal distress.