A Study on the Relationship between Self-esteem and Smartphone Addiction among Young Adults

Description

Debasmita Gope and Rita Karmakar (Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences, Amity University Kolkata, West Bengal)

There have been concerns regarding how the increasing usage of smartphones among young adults can influence their mental health, especially their self-esteem. It is important to note that the association between the use of smartphones and self-esteem in young adults remains unexplored empirically, despite the increased dependency on these gadgets. The present study sought to investigate the relationship between levels of self-esteem and smartphone addiction among young adults. A cross-sectional design was adopted for the study, and 100 young adults within the age range of 18 to 25 years were used as participants. Participants reporting a history of serious neurological, mental, or physical disorders, as well as those below 18 or above 25 years were excluded from the study. The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES; Rosenberg, 1965) was used to measure self-esteem, and the Smartphone Addiction Scale Short Version (SAS-SV; Kwon et al., 2013) was used to measure smartphone addiction. To investigate the relationship between smartphone addiction and self-esteem, descriptive statistics and correlation analyses were performed. The findings revealed a statistically significant negative correlation between self-esteem and smartphone addiction, indicating that lower self-esteem was linked to higher levels of smartphone addiction. Smartphone obsession was more common among young adults with lower self-esteem, possibly as a coping mechanism for social isolation and adverse feelings. The results emphasize the necessity to address mental factors such as self-esteem in understanding and controlling young adult’s excessive use of smartphones to support mental well-being. Also, implications of boosting self- esteem and reducing internet addiction in young adults have been discussed.