Smartphone: It’s Use for Stress Coping in Spanish Teenagers

Abstract

Nowadays, smartphones are becoming the most generalized technological device on the planet, and Spain is the European leader in smartphones market penetration. Objective: to analyze the differences between both kinds of coping (one directed to emotion and the other straight to the problem) in function of the kind of usage of the intelligent phone. Participants: The sample comprised 382 teenagers from whom 142 were discarded due to lacking certain inclusion criteria. A 54.6% (131) belonged to the feminine gender and 45.4% (109) to the masculine. Results: showed differences between the cognitive avoidance coping and the excessive usage of the intelligent phone, the behavioral approximation and occasional and frequent usage. There are also differences between the sexes and all the strategies of coping directed to the problem, girls being the ones who used them the most. The interaction between age and the mobile phone usage for the variable emotional suppression is significant in 16-18-year-olds frequent users and at risk for 12 and 13 years old. Conclusion: for less adaptive coping ways (e.g. avoidance) teenagers are the most vulnerable to develop an excessive usage of the smartphone, while as those who confront the problems and difficulties from approximation tend to not use it in excess.