Every technological revolution results in significant changes throughout human society. The current information age, which is significantly characterized by rapid developments in mobile technology, has resulted in profound changes, affecting humankind on a global scale. On the one hand, mobile Internet has gradually become a crucial driving force of social development, thereby making social life highly convenient. On the other hand, it has continuously penetrated people’s daily lives, and the use of mobile devices, such as smartphones, has occupied almost all of people’s fragmented time. These aspects of mobile technology have significantly increased the risk of problematic smartphone use. According to the China Internet Network Information Center (2022), as of December 2021, the number of mobile Internet users in China was 1.029 billion, with young adults making up a significantly high proportion of such users (19.7%) [1]. Problematic smartphone use is associated with various negative consequences among young adults [2], such as deteriorations in the quality of sleep [3] and mental or physical problems [4–6].
Childhood Neglect And Problematic Smartphone Use
According to Bronfenbrenner’s ecological framework for human development, the family environment, which represents the micro system of survival and development among various individuals, has a direct and lasting impact on psychological development among different individual [7]. Childhood neglect is a crucial factor affecting psychological development among individuals in family environments. Childhood neglect involves the long-term negligence of children’s basic needs, pertaining to their emotions, education, and physical health, among other factors, by parents or guardians [8]. Currently, owing to rapid developments in various social and economic environments, childhood emotional neglect is a significantly common phenomenon. In a survey conducted by Sun et al. (2019), the results showed that 76.46% of the adolescent participants believed that they had suffered psychological neglect during their childhood [9].
Childhood neglect has a sustained negative impact on both physical and mental health among various individuals. The Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution (I-PACE) model posits that negative early childhood experiences, such as childhood neglect, are distal risk factors that may make individuals vulnerable to develop an addictive behavior in particular [10]. Attachment theory posits that individuals who lack parent-child interaction during the critical period of development form unsafe attachment styles with their parents and other caregivers, thereby affecting their interpersonal interaction behaviors with other individuals in the future. Individuals with unsafe attachment styles are highly prone to maladjustment [11]. Based on attachment theory, young adults who suffered from neglect during their childhood often find it difficult to establish close emotional connections with the people around them, and they cannot get a sufficient sense of security from other individuals. Individuals with insecure attachments tend to use smartphones to satisfy their emotional needs and reinforce their sense of security, and this aspect results in problematic smartphone use [12]. Empirical studies have also established that childhood neglect is a crucial factor influencing the levels of problematic smartphone use among young adults [13]. According to a recent longitudinal study, childhood emotional neglect has a one-way causal relationship with problematic smartphone use among adolescents in China [14]. Therefore, in this study, we hypothesize that childhood neglect has a significantly positive predictive effect on problematic smartphone use among young adults (Hypothesis 1).
Mediating Role Of The Fear Of Missing Out
Among individuals, the fear of missing out refers to a type of diffused anxiety resulting from the perception that other people are having novel experiences, having more fun, or living better lives in comparison [15]. In modern contexts, the fear of missing out has become a common psychological phenomenon among people. According to a recent study, approximately 78.3% of young adults in China experience the fear of missing out [16]. Based on the Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution (I-PACE) model, when being confronted with abnormal mood, such as the fear of missing out, an urge to regulate the experienced mood may develop, which is considered as an important factor within the development of Internet-use disorders. As tools for observing the external world, smartphones make it significantly easy for individuals to understand external changes so as to regulate the experienced mood [17]. Once individuals understand the related external changes and regulate the experienced mood through smartphones, this behavior is rapidly exacerbated, and eventually, it gets out of control, thereby resulting in problematic smartphone use. Various empirical studies have also established that the fear of missing out is a vital risk factor for problematic smartphone use among young adults [13, 18]. Therefore, the fear of missing out may be considered as a proximal risk factor for problematic smartphone use among young adults.
Meanwhile, the fear of missing out can be perceived as an expression of self-regulation obstruction among individuals [15]. According to the self-determination theory [19], effective emotional self-regulation among individuals relies on their ability to compensate for three basic psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. In other words, when individuals cannot satisfy their basic psychological needs, their ability to achieve emotional self-regulation is hindered, thereby resulting in increased levels of the fear of missing out. Young adults who experienced psychological neglect throughout their childhood often find it difficult to establish close emotional connections with the people around them, and as a result, their inability to achieve relatedness, as it pertains to the aforementioned basic needs, results in the emergence of the fear of missing out. According to a recent empirical study, childhood neglect is also a crucial factor affecting the fear of missing out among young adults [13].
Additionally, the interaction of person-affect-cognition-execution (I-PACE) model indicates that childhood experiences affect the way in which individuals form specific cognitive and emotional response patterns that affect self-inhibition ability and the desire for internet use, among other attributes, which eventually result in various types of internet-use disorders [10]. Essentially, childhood neglect results in various emotional responses, such as the fear of missing out, which further induce problematic smartphones use among young adults. Young adults who suffer from childhood neglect often form unsafe attachments with their peers, and they are highly likely to worry and be afraid of missing out on news relevant to their friends, an aspect that results in increased levels of the fear of missing out. To alleviate the fear of missing out, young adults often pay attention to and track the news and life trajectories of their peers through smartphones at any time. Eventually, such behaviors result in problematic smartphone use. Therefore, we hypothesize that the fear of missing out mediates the relationship between childhood neglect and problematic smartphone use among young adults (Hypothesis 2).
Mediating Role Of Peer Attachment
Various recent studies employ the attachment theory to explore the relationship between peer attachment and problematic smartphone use among young adults [20, 21]. The development and strengthening of attachment-related bonds between children and their parents begin during infancy. As adolescents mature into young adults, the communication and interaction levels between them and their peers increase gradually, thereby resulting in the increased importance of peer attachment. Among young adults, the importance of peer attachment is significantly associated with the development of additional social relationships that can ensure support and encouragement in the face of the transitions and challenges associated with life [22].
Perceived social support is considered, to a large extent, as a by-product of attachment style, and individuals with insecure attachment endorse the lower of perceived social support [23]. Meanwhile, individuals with insecure attachment may be sensitive to fluctuation in their social environment and to negative attitudes and behaviors of others, which might lead them to experience states of loneliness [24]. That is, individuals with insecure peer attachment can’t establish positive and intimate interpersonal relationships in real life, which leads to negative social cognition such as perceived lack of social support and loneliness. Based on the Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution (I-PACE) model, negative social cognition, as person’s core characteristic, is associated with specific Internet-use disorder. Young adults with low levels of peer attachment cannot establish positive and intimate interpersonal relationships in real life. Such individuals often turn to the virtual online world to satisfy and compensate for their psychological needs for interpersonal communication, thereby increasing the risk of problematic smartphone use. Additionally, various empirical studies have established that peer attachment has a significantly negative predictive effect on problematic smartphone use among young adults [22, 25].
The internal working model of attachment further postulates that early parent-child interaction significantly affects individuals’ future cognitive, emotional, and interpersonal interactions, as well as other behavioral patterns [26]. Young adults who have experienced childhood neglect often form unsafe attachments with their parents, and this attribute affects their interpersonal interaction with others in the future, thereby resulting in insecure peer attachments among such individuals. Young adults with insecure peer attachment often seek to gratify their psychological needs of interpersonal communication using smartphones. Over time, this behavior results in problematic smartphone use among such individuals. Based on the above, we hypothesize that peer attachment mediates the relationship between childhood neglect and problematic smartphone use among young adults (Hypothesis 3).
Although there is no study that directly explores the relationship between peer attachment and the fear of missing out, a recent study established that anxious attachment has a significantly positive predictive effect on the fear of missing out among young adults [27]. Young adults with low levels of peer attachment often find it difficult to form a safe attachment relationship with their peers. Therefore, such individuals are highly likely to worry, and they fear missing out on news relevant to their peers, and this attribute results in the emergence of the fear of missing out. To eliminate the fear of missing out in this case, such individuals always use their smartphones to obtain the relevant dynamics of their peers’ lives, thereby inducing the risk of problematic smartphone use. In this study, we hypothesized that peer attachment and the fear of missing out have sequential mediating effects on the relationship between childhood neglect and problematic smartphone use among young adults (Hypothesis 4).
The Current Study
In this study, based on theoretical support from previous studies and the explanations presented above, we predicted that young adults who suffer from childhood neglect form insecure attachments with their peers, and thus, they experience high levels of the fear of missing out. As a result, such individuals are highly likely to engage in problematic smartphone use. Because the association between these variables was considered to have a significant influence on the levels of problematic smartphone use among young adults, it was determined that peer attachment and the fear of missing out mediate the relationship between childhood neglect and problematic smartphone use among such individuals (Fig. 1).
We proposed a structural model for explaining the relationship between childhood neglect and problematic smartphone use, with the mediators being peer attachment and the fear of missing out. In other words, based on the model proposed and explored in this study, we attempted to answer three questions, as follows: (a) Does the fear of missing out mediate the relationship between childhood neglect and problematic smartphone use? (b) Does peer attachment mediate the relationship between childhood neglect and problematic smartphone use? and (c) Do peer attachment and the fear of missing out have sequential mediating effects on the relationship between childhood neglect and problematic smartphone use among young adults? It is possible to provide further insight into the studies related to problematic smartphone use by examining to what extent and the way in which these main factors, which were selected from the environmental and individual sources of problematic smartphone use, can be used to predict problematic smartphone use among young adults.