Faculty of Medicine of Tunis, Tunis Al Manar University, Tunis, Tunisia.
The Tunisian Center of Early Intervention in Psychosis, Department of Psychiatry Ibn Omrane, Razi Hospital, Tunis, Tunisia.
BMC Psychiatry. 2023 Jan 25;23(1):67. doi: 10.1186/s12888-023-04563-9.
The way how technology addiction relates to psychosis remains inconclusive and uncertain. The present study aimed to test the hypothesis of a mediating role of depression, anxiety and stress in the association between three technology (behavioral) addictions (i.e., Addiction to the Internet, smartphones and Facebook) and psychosis proneness as estimated through schizotypal traits in emerging adults.
A cross-sectional study was performed among non-clinical Tunisian university students (67.6% females, mean age of 21.5 ± 2.5 years) using a paper-and-pencil self-administered questionnaire.
Results for the Pearson correlation revealed that higher smartphone, Internet, and Facebook addictions' scores were significantly and positively correlated with each of the depression, anxiety and stress subscores; whereas depression (r = 0.474), anxiety (r = 0.499) and stress (r = 0.461) scores were positively correlated with higher schizotypal traits. The results of the mediation analysis found a significant mediating effect for depressive, anxiety and stress symptoms on the cross-sectional relationship between each facet of the TA and schizotypal traits.
Our findings preliminarily suggest that an addictive use of smartphones, Internet and Facebook may act as a stressor that exacerbates psychosis proneness directly or indirectly through distress. Although future longitudinal research is needed to determine causality, we draw attention to the possibility that treating psychological distress may constitute an effective target of interventions to prevent psychosis in adolescents with technology addictions.
技术成瘾与精神病的关系尚不清楚。本研究旨在检验抑郁、焦虑和压力在三种技术（行为）成瘾（即网络成瘾、智能手机成瘾和 Facebook 成瘾）与通过精神分裂症特质评估的精神病易感性之间的关联中的中介作用的假设，这些成瘾与精神分裂症特质评估的精神病易感性之间的关联在年轻人中。
采用纸笔自填式问卷，对非临床突尼斯大学生（女性占 67.6%，平均年龄 21.5±2.5 岁）进行横断面研究。
Pearson 相关分析结果表明，智能手机、互联网和 Facebook 成瘾得分越高，与抑郁、焦虑和压力的各个子量表得分呈显著正相关；而抑郁（r=0.474）、焦虑（r=0.499）和压力（r=0.461）得分与较高的精神分裂症特质呈正相关。中介分析的结果发现，抑郁、焦虑和压力症状对 TA 的每个方面与精神分裂症特质的横断面关系具有显著的中介作用。
我们的研究结果初步表明，智能手机、互联网和 Facebook 的成瘾性使用可能是一种压力源，通过痛苦直接或间接加剧精神病易感性。尽管需要未来的纵向研究来确定因果关系，但我们提请注意这样一种可能性，即治疗心理困扰可能构成预防青少年技术成瘾者精神病的干预措施的有效目标。
