AUTHOR=Müller Marko , Sindermann Cornelia , Rozgonjuk Dmitri , Montag Christian 

TITLE=Mind-Wandering Mediates the Associations Between Neuroticism and Conscientiousness, and Tendencies Towards Smartphone Use Disorder

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.661541

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.661541

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<p>Mounting evidence suggests that smartphone overuse/<italic>sm</italic>artphone <italic>u</italic>se <italic>d</italic>isorder (SmUD) is associated with negative affectivity. Given a large number of smartphone users worldwide (currently about 4.7 billion) and the fact that many individuals carry their smartphones around 24/7, it is of high importance to better understand the phenomenon of smartphone overuse. Based on the <italic>i</italic>nteraction of <italic>p</italic>erson-<italic>a</italic>ffect-<italic>c</italic>ognition-<italic>e</italic>xecution (I-PACE) model, we investigated the links between SmUD and the personality traits, neuroticism and conscientiousness, which represent two vulnerability factors robustly linked to SmUD according to a recent meta-analysis. Beyond that, we tested the effects of <italic>m</italic>ind-<italic>w</italic>andering (MW) and <italic>f</italic>ear <italic>o</italic>f <italic>m</italic>issing <italic>o</italic>ut (FoMO) in the relation between individual differences in personality and tendencies towards SmUD. The effective sample comprised 414 study participants (151 men and 263 women, age <italic>M</italic> = 33.6, <italic>SD</italic> = 13.5). By applying a <italic>s</italic>tructural <italic>e</italic>quation <italic>m</italic>odeling (SEM) technique, we observed that the associations of higher neuroticism and lower conscientiousness with higher levels of SmUD were mediated by higher scores in mind-wandering. These novel findings can help to understand the associations between personality and SmUD in more detail.</p>