Beyond the Wish: Actual Mobile Phone Use Surpassing Desire Brings More Distress

This study aimed to address this gap by examining the impact of incongruence between actual-MPU and desired-MPU on psychol ogical distress. A total of 678 Chinese adolescents (Mage = 14.62 years,SD = 1.61) participated in the study. The cubic Response Surface Analysis (RSA) revealed that adolescents with greater incongruence between actual-MPU and desired-MPU experienced more psychological distress. Even amidst congruence, higher mean levels of actual-MPU and desired-MPU were associated with more distress. Notably, adolescents experienced more distress when the actual-MPU surpassed the desired-MPU than when the desired-MPU was higher than the actual-MPU. The present study conceptualized and distinguished between actual-MPU and desired-MPU. Integrating the actual-MPU and desired-MPU provides a new direction for intervening in psychological distress.
Source: International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction - Category: Addiction Source Type: research