Problematic mobile phone use can be related to negative mental states. Some studies indicate that behavioural dependency is related to variables associated with the country of origin. The aim of our ...study was to investigate if country indicators moderated the relationship between phubbing and psychological distress. Our sample consisted of 7,315 individuals from 20 countries, who completed the Phubbing Scale and the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K6). The analyses also included country indicators: the Gender Gap Index (GGI), the Human Development Index (HDI), the Social Progress Index (SPI), Hofstede's dimensions of culture, and the World Happiness Index (WHI). Our results showed that psychological distress was related to at least one dimension of phubbing (i.e., to communication disturbance or phone obsession) in all countries, which means this relationship is culturally universal. The results of the study demonstrate the importance of testing measurement invariance to determine what type of analysis and what type of conclusion are valid in a given study or comparison. Moreover, the increasing or decreasing correlation between phubbing and distress is related to some culture-level indices.
The increase in the number of users of social networking sites (SNS) has inspired intense efforts to determine intercultural differences between them. The main aim of the study was to investigate the ...cultural and personal predictors of Facebook intrusion. A total of 2628 Facebook users from eight countries took part in the study. The Facebook Intrusion Questionnaire, the Ten-Item Personality Inventory, and the Singelis Scale were used. We found that two variables related to Country were significantly related to Facebook intrusion: uniqueness (negatively) and low context (positively); of the personality variables, conscientiousness, and emotional stability were negatively related to the dependent variable of Facebook intrusion across different countries, which may indicate the universal pattern of Facebook intrusion. The results of the study will contribute to the international debate on the phenomenon of SNS.
Whereas role-playing and table-top role-play games (RPGs) have been proven to have potential as therapeutic tools, playing RPGs is often stereotypically associated with social incompetence and ...psychiatric disorders. Knowledge regarding the stereotype and its implications is very scarce specifically among mental health practitioners. Therefore the present study aimed to narrow this gap in knowledge by examining the perception of Social Workers that are considered to be the forefront of mental health-care, in regard to the association between playing RPGs and mental health. A convenience sample of 130 Social Workers, recruited through social networks (e.g. Facebook, WhatsApp etc.), responded to an on-line survey dealing with their perception of their own knowledge on RPGs, the importance of such knowledge and the association between playing RPGs and mental illness. Results indicated an association between having higher knowledge of RPGs and lower perception of a link between playing RPGs and psychopathology. The study’s findings emphasize the false stigma and its potential harmful implication on professionals’ practice, especially in the context of intake process and primary diagnostic. The effect of familiarity is also discussed in light of the study’s findings.
Highlights
• The perception of mental health professionals toward role playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons is understudied.
• Social Workers' perception was measured in regard to the connection between use of RPGs and DSM-IV-TR psychopathology.
• Greater knowledge of RPGs was found to be associated with lower perception of the connection between use of RPGs and DSM-IV-TR psychopathology.
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DOBA, EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OBVAL, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
•The Polish version of Davis’s Online Cognition Scale (OCS) is presented.•The results show that the test’s internal consistency is excellent.•The Polish OCS is proved to be a valid instrument for ...measuring Internet addiction.•The gender differences in the OCS are explored.
Internet use is increasing every year and it involves a risk of pathological use that worsens users’ quality of life in every aspect. A good instrument to diagnose this problem is essential. The first purpose of this paper is to present the Polish version of Davis’s Online Cognition Scale (OCS). The second purpose is to discuss the gender differences in OCS scores that were found in the study. A sample of 626 individuals aged 11–84years, Mage=21.68years, SD=5.15, 40.3% males took part in the study. On this sample, the psychometric properties of the Polish version of the OCS were investigated. The Corrected Item-Total Correlation values ranged from .377 to .679, indicating that the scale’s items measured the same construct: pathological Internet use. Also, the internal consistency was very good (α=.817). Consonant with the original version, we obtained a four-factor model comprising impulsivity, loneliness/depression, distraction, and social comfort. Our conclusion is that the Polish version of the OCS is a valid instrument for measuring Internet addiction. Gender differences were discussed.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
For several years, the number of studies on the links between excessive mobile phone use and mental health has been increasing. The aim of the study was to establish if there is a relationship ...between mobile phone addiction and depression in university students and if phubbing is a mediator of this relationship. The authors also tested if this mediation effect was moderated by loneliness and if the model of relationships between these variables was the same in women and in men. The participants were 402 university and college students from Ukraine, aged 17 to 31; 74% of them were women. The authors used the Adapted Mobile Phone Use Habits, the Phubbing Scale, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, and the Loneliness Scale. The results of the study have shown that higher mobile phone addiction and higher phubbing is associated with a higher level of depressive moods, with phubbing functioning as a mediator of the relationship between mobile phone addiction and depression. A moderator of this mediation is loneliness, the moderation effect being asymmetrically dependent on gender: in men, high loneliness increases the mediating role of phubbing, which more markedly translates into depression, while in women the analyzed mediation effect becomes weaker with an increase in the sense of loneliness (phubbing correlates less strongly with depression).
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DOBA, EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OBVAL, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Background and Objectives: Internet use, which has become extremely important and essential in everyday life, often leads to problematic use. The main aim of our study was to answer the question of ...whether self-esteem is a predictor of Internet addiction. Methods: The participants were 1,011 people from three countries: Turkey (N = 320), Poland (N = 350), and Ukraine (N = 341). Young's Internet Addiction Test and Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale were used. Results: Results provide evidence that self-esteem is a predictor of Internet addiction and that this pattern is found across cultures. Conclusions: People who approach themselves with heavy self-criticism and evaluate themselves as unworthy are more prone to Internet addiction. More research is also needed to provide a better understanding of the Internet addiction phenomenon and its relation to self-esteem, personality, and culture.
More and more people are using social networking sites, with Facebook being one of the most popular. So far, most of the research on using Facebook has focused on emotional, social, and ...personality-related factors and few studies have investigated the phenomenon from a cognitive perspective. The aim of our study was, therefore, to identify relationships between cognitive control and Facebook intrusion, with regard to proactive and reactive modes of cognitive control. The study was also designed to investigate the effects of neutral and Facebook-related context. The subjects (N = 80 young adults, M.sub.age = 21.13 years; SD = 1.60) were divided into two groups based on their level of Facebook intrusion. The Facebook Intrusion Scale was used for selection. Using the AX-continuous performance task, we found that subjects with high Facebook intrusion showed more reactive control than their low Facebook intrusion peers. We also demonstrated that all subjects showed less proactive control in a Facebook-related context than in a neutral context. The results were interpreted in the light of the dual mechanism of cognitive control model. KEYWORDS Facebook intrusion, Facebook context, cognitive control, proactive control, reactive control
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Cyberchondria, defined as excessive concern about one's health and looking for solutions to health problems on the Internet, is becoming increasingly common. This paper examines the relations between ...the dimensions of stress appraisal (threat, challenge-activity, challenge-passivity, harm/loss) and cyberchondria. We also tested whether these relations were mediated by rumination. The study included a nonclinical sample of N = 615 participants aged 18 to 83 years (M = 43.86, SD = 14.57, 53 % women), who completed the short version of the Cyberchondria Severity Scale, the Rumination Scale, and the Stress Appraisal Questionnaire. We used the Computer-Assisted Web Interview (CAWI) method. The results revealed that rumination was a partial mediator between stress as a threat and cyberchondria and between stress as a harm/loss and cyberchondria. Cyberchondria was positively related to rumination, stress as a threat, and stress as a harm/loss and negatively related to the challenge-activity dimension of stress appraisal. The study indicates that stress appraisal is linked to cyberchondria and that rumination plays an important role in this relationship.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Envy is the emotion felt towards another person when they have something that one wants to have or a wish that they did not have it. Some authors distinguish malicious and benign forms of envy. The ...main aim of the presented research was to examine whether envy is related to self-esteem, Schadenfreude, optimism, and rumination. Additionally, the aim was to verify the validity and reliability of the Polish version of the Dispositional Envy Scale (DES), measuring the tendency to feel envy that is close to malicious envy. The participants were 1,221 people aged from 14 to 69. The DES was translated into Polish using the back-translation procedure. The 8-item one-factor DES has good psychometric properties, with a Cronbach's alpha of .86. The findings show that envy is positively related to Schadenfreude and rumination and negatively to age, self-esteem, and optimism.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, ODKLJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
The study aimed to test how Polish students assess their average mood. The research was based on American and Polish studies conducted several years ago. In the U.S. study, students rated their mood ...as better than usual, while the Polish students in the 1990s rated theirs as worse than usual. Participants in our study were 82 people (mean age M = 20 years, SD = 1.21). For 30 consecutive days they rated their mood using a 7-point scale. It turned out that the participants tended to rate their mood on a given day as the same as the average one. These results are different from those obtained for Polish students several years ago.
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