Structural Equations Modeling of the Relationship between Virtual Addictions, Attachment Styles, and Demographic Variables with Pubbing

Pubbing is an emerging concept in the pathological literature and is a communicational phenomenon and refers to the disorder of smartphone dependency. Despite the importance relationship between pubbing and Internet addiction, gaming, social media, and psychological indices such as attachment styles, this issue has not been evaluated in Iranian society to date. This study was conducted aimed to model the structural equations of the relationship between virtual addiction, attachment styles and demographic variables with the phenomenon of pubbing.

This study was conducted in the form of a descriptive correlational design based on structural equation modeling. For this purpose, 356 individuals were selected by stratified random sampling from men and women of Qom city during April to August 2019 and entered the research process after obtaining entry criteria and informed consent. Seven scales of pubbing, Internet Addiction, Game Addiction, Social Media Addiction, Mobile phone Addiction, Texting Addiction, and Attachment Styles Questionnaire were used to collect data.

The results showed that the tested model has a good fit. The direct effect of mobile phone addiction (0.50), SMS addiction (0.18) and attachment (0.50) on pubbing was positive and significant at level of 0.01. Also, the indirect effect of game addiction and texting addiction was significant on pubbing at level of 0.01. It also explained 76% of the variance of pubbing for game addiction, texting addiction and attachment. However, the indirect effects of the addiction variables on pubbing through age variable were not significant.

The findings of this study can be useful in planning the advancement horizons in prevention and management of pubbing phenomena and could have clinical applications. Declaration of Interest: None.