Excessive reassurance seeking mediates relations between rumination and problematic smartphone use
Abstract
Aside from depression and anxiety, less is known about the relationship of problematic smartphone use (PSU) to other psychopathology- related variables. The authors' aim was to test previously neglected variables in relation to PSU: rumination and excessive reassurance seeking behavior (ERSB). The authors recruited 295 college students for a web-based survey of smartphone use frequency, PSU, depression and anxiety, ruminative thinking, and ERSB. The authors tested linear regression and mediation models, assessing rumination and ERSB as mediating associations between depression/anxiety severity with PSU, adjusting for age, sex, and smartphone use frequency. Results demonstrate that ERSB was significantly related to PSU severity, and ERSB mediated the association between rumination and PSU. Furthermore, the combination of rumination and ERSB mediated relations between both depression and anxiety severity with PSU. Results provide evidence for ERSB as an important variable in understanding relationships between psychopathology symptoms and PSU severity among college students.
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Excessive reassurance-seeking behavior mediates the link between rumination and problematic use of social media/smartphones.
“The addictive nature of smartphone use exacerbates this loop, with excessive reassurance-seeking behavior (ERSB) mediating the link between rumination and problematic use of these platforms [24].”
From The Impact of Social Media & Technology on Child and Adolescent Mental Health (2025) · cites this paper as [24]
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- Authors
- Elhai, J. D., Rozgonjuk, D., Alghraibeh, A. M., Levine, J. C., Alafnan, A. A., Aldraiweesh, A. A., Aljomaa, S. S., & Hall, B. J.
- Affiliations
- Tianjin Normal University (CN)
- Venue
- Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic
- Publisher
- Guilford Publications
- Published
- 2020-06
- Volume
- 84
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 137-155
- ISSN
- 0025-9284 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3011953341
- Cited by
- 35
- References
- 20
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 5
- FWCI
- 9.02
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Keywords
- smartphone addiction, rumination, depression, anxiety, mediation, university students, psychopathology
- MeSH terms
- Smartphone, Rumination, Cognitive, Adult, Dependency, Psychological, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Male, Self Concept, Severity of Illness Index, Students, Behavior, Addictive, Young Adult
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