Chu Yang, Li Jiahao, Liu Shan, Liu Yanfang, Xu Jie
Center for Psychological Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., Beijing 100080, China.
Behav Sci (Basel). 2025 Aug 18;15(8):1121. doi: 10.3390/bs15081121.
In the digital age, smartphones are often used as tools for emotion regulation. While prior research has examined affective predictors of smartphone use, few studies have considered the combined impact of short-term and long-term affective states. This study investigates how daily negative emotional states and psychological distress relate to smartphone use and whether these associations are moderated by locus of control, a core belief about perceived control. Thirty-seven participants completed a one-month daily diary study combined with objective smartphone usage tracking, which yielded 837 valid observations. Multilevel analyses showed no association between daily negative emotional state and smartphone use. However, psychological distress predicted divergent behavioral patterns based on locus of control: individuals with an internal locus of control showed reduced usage under distress, whereas those with an external locus of control exhibited increased frequency of use. These findings highlight the importance of individual control beliefs in shaping technology-mediated emotion regulation and offer implications for interventions targeting excessive smartphone use.
在数字时代，智能手机常被用作情绪调节工具。虽然先前的研究考察了智能手机使用的情感预测因素，但很少有研究考虑短期和长期情感状态的综合影响。本研究调查了日常负面情绪状态和心理困扰与智能手机使用之间的关系，以及这些关联是否受到控制点（一种关于感知控制的核心信念）的调节。37名参与者完成了一项为期一个月的每日日记研究，并结合客观的智能手机使用跟踪，共获得837条有效观察结果。多层次分析表明，日常负面情绪状态与智能手机使用之间没有关联。然而，心理困扰根据控制点预测了不同的行为模式：内控型个体在困扰状态下使用量减少，而外控型个体的使用频率增加。这些发现凸显了个体控制信念在塑造技术介导的情绪调节中的重要性，并为针对过度使用智能手机的干预措施提供了启示。
