Boredom proneness and rumination mediate relationships between depression and anxiety with problematic smartphone use severity

Problematic smartphone use (PSU) symptoms are related to mental health symptoms, such as depression and anxiety. However, less investigated are current psychopathology-related processes in mediating these relationships. We analyzed boredom proneness and rumination, two variables involving negative affectivity, as possible mediators between mental health and PSU severity. We recruited 1097 Chinese university students to complete online questionnaires measuring levels of PSU, smartphone use frequency (SUF), depressive and anxious symptoms, boredom proneness and rumination. Structural equation modeling demonstrated that boredom proneness and rumination were significantly related to both SUF and PSU severity. SUF inversely mediated relations between boredom proneness and PSU severity, but positively accounted for relations between rumination and PSU levels. This is one of few studies testing boredom proneness or rumination in relation to PSU severity. Boredom proneness and rumination may be important variables involving negative affectivity, explaining why some depressed or anxious individuals overuse their smartphones.