Association between mental flexibility and somatic symptom disorder mediated by smartphone addiction among university students

Smartphone addiction is categorized as a behavioral addiction that in adolescents and youths can affect many aspects of life, including education and physical health, and is accompanied by such problems as reduced interpersonal problems, anger, aggression, and emotion. Thisstudy designedto assessthe association between mental flexibility and somatoform mediated by smartphone addiction among university students in 2020.

The study was a descriptive correlation performed employing path analysis. The studypopulation included all students of the Islamic Azad University of Ahvaz in the academic year 2020-2021, 251 studentswere selected using simple random sampling. In the present research, we utilized the Somatic Symptoms Experiences Questionnaire (SSEQ), Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS), and Cognitive Flexibility Inventory (CFI). The proposed model was assessedusing path analysis with AMOS version 23.0 software.

There was a negative and significant association between mental flexibility and smartphone addiction (β=-0.47, P=0.001). Moreover, there was a positive association between smartphone addiction and somatoform (β=0.41, P=0.001). There was no significant association between mental flexibility and somatoform (β=-0.10, P=0.07). The pathanalysis results showedthemediating role of smartphone addictionin the association between mental flexibility and somatoform in university students (β=-0.27, P=0.001).

Ourmodel had a good fit, and, as a result, it couldbe helpful asan important step in identifying the aspectsaffecting the somatic symptom disorder of university students with smartphone addiction