Underlying dimensions of depression and negative affect are equally related to problematic smartphone and social media use severity

Prior research has found depression and negative affect robustly related to problematic smartphone use (PSU) and problematic social media use (PSMU) severity. However, research has not examined which underlying, latent dimensions of depression or negative affect are most related to PSU/PSMU severity, which was the focus of the present study. We analyzed self-report web survey data from a cross-sectional study of 329 American college students, administered measures of depression, negative affect, PSU and PSMU. Using structural equation modeling analyses, we discovered that confirmatory factor analysis models of depression, negative affect, PSU and PSMU fit well. Depression's cognitive-affective and somatic symptom dimensions were equally related to PSU severity (somatic β = 0.39; cognitive β = 0.41; difference between paths was not significant/ns), as well as to PSMU severity (somatic β = 0.41; cognitive β = 0.44; ns between paths). A similar pattern of findings was found for negative affect's fear and distress symptoms, which were equally related to PSU severity (fear β = 0.49; distress β = 0.51; ns between paths), and to PSMU severity (fear β = 0.53; distress β = 0.54; ns between paths). Results are discussed in the context of theoretical models of risk factors for problematic Internet use.