Nomophobia, emotion regulation, loneliness and smartphone use among adolescents: a gratification-compensatory smartphone use theory

Purpose This study aims to examine whether emotion regulation and loneliness are associated with nomophobia among Indonesian adolescents, and whether smartphone use intensity functions as a behavioral pathway linking these psychological vulnerabilities to nomophobia. To avoid conceptual overlap, nomophobia is treated here as smartphone-related separation anxiety rather than as a synonym for problematic smartphone use. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted with 355 high school students aged 16–18 years in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, recruited through purposive sampling. Participants completed self-report measures of emotion regulation, loneliness, smartphone use intensity and nomophobia. Covariance-based structural equation modeling was used to examine the hypothesized pattern of associations. Because the design was cross-sectional, the model was evaluated as an associational, theory-informed process model rather than a causal test. Findings Better emotion regulation was associated with lower smartphone use intensity, whereas loneliness was associated with higher smartphone use intensity. Smartphone use intensity, in turn, was positively associated with nomophobia and emerged as the only significant direct predictor of nomophobia in the structural model. Smartphone use intensity showed a significant indirect association between emotion regulation and nomophobia, whereas the indirect pathway from loneliness to nomophobia via smartphone use was not statistically significant. The model explained a modest proportion of variance in smartphone use and nomophobia, suggesting that additional cognitive, relational and contextual factors remain important. Research limitations/implications The cross-sectional, single-informant design limits temporal ordering and causal inference, and the purposive sample from one city constrains generalizability. In addition, this study relied on a brief self-developed smartphone-use intensity index and did not include statistical controls specifically designed to rule out common method variance. Future studies should use longitudinal or cross-lagged designs, compare alternative models, report fuller measurement-model diagnostics and include constructs such as fear of missing out, attachment anxiety and self-esteem. Practical implications The findings support interventions that strengthen adolescents’ adaptive emotion-regulation skills and promote mindful, goal-directed smartphone use. However, because the present data are cross-sectional, these implications should be interpreted as preventive directions rather than evidence of intervention effectiveness. Social implications The results underscore the importance of strengthening offline connectedness, family communication and digital literacy so that adolescents do not depend excessively on smartphones for emotional soothing or social reassurance. Originality/value This study contributes by testing a culturally situated, theory-informed model of nomophobia among Indonesian adolescents while explicitly distinguishing nomophobia from general smartphone use intensity. Rather than claiming novelty merely from combining variables, the study’s contribution lies in clarifying a plausible behavioral pathway through which emotion-regulation difficulties may relate to nomophobia in a collectivist adolescent context.