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Problematic Internet and Mobile Phone Use and Clinical Symptoms in College
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DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2009.03.001 · Source: DBLP

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Computers in Human Behavior 25 (2009) 1182–1187

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Computers in Human Behavior

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/comphumbeh

Problematic Internet and mobile phone use and clinical symptoms in college
students: The role of emotional intelligence
Marta Beranuy a, Ursula Oberst a,*, Xavier Carbonell a, Ander Chamarro b
a
Ramon Llull University. Facultat de Psicologia, Ciències de l’Educació i de l’Esport Blanquerna, 08022 Barcelona, Spain
b
Department of Psychology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This study deals with maladaptive use of the Internet and the mobile phone and its relationship to
Available online 17 May 2009 symptoms of psychological distress and mental disorder, as well as to the possible role of Perceived
Emotional Intelligence in this relationship. Three hundred and sixty-five undergraduate university
Keywords: freshmen at Ramon Llull University, Barcelona (Spain), majoring in four different studies (Psychology,
Behavioral addictions Education, Journalism and Broadcasting, and Health Studies) replied to scales assessing the negative
Emotional intelligence consequences of maladaptive use of both the Internet (CERI) and the mobile phone (CERM), a self-
College students
report scale on Perceived Emotional Intelligence (TMMS-24), and a clinical instrument to check for
Internet addiction
Mobile phone use
complaints related to the presence of psychological distress (Symptom Checklist-90-R; SCL-90-R). Results
indicate that psychological distress is related to maladaptive use of both the Internet and the mobile
phone; females scored higher than males on the mobile phone questionnaire, showing more negative
consequences of its maladaptive use. With respect to major study, students of Journalism and Broad-
casting showed a more maladaptive pattern of Internet use than students of other majors. The compo-
nents of Perceived Emotional Intelligence contributed to the explanation of the variance of the general
indicators of psychological distress, but to a lesser degree than maladaptive use of Internet and mobile
phone.
Ó 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

1. Introduction
In the last few years, addiction to the information and commu-
nication technologies (ICT) has become a widely discussed, and
probably often exaggerated, topic, in the media. Nonetheless, there
is an increasing amount of scientific literature about the impact of
the new technologies in mental health and how maladaptive use
can produce symptoms of psychological distress or disorders. Mal-
adaptive use of the Internet has been shown to be related to differ-
ent psychological problems. Thus, for instance, Whang, Lee, and
Chang (2003) found a significant correlation between degree of
Internet addiction and negative psychological states such as lone-
liness, depression, and compulsive behavior; Niemz, Griffiths, and
Banyard (2005) found an association between pathological Inter-
net use and self-esteem, and Black, Belsare, and Schlosser (1999)
between compulsive computer use and different psychiatric symp-
toms as well as general emotional distress. In a recent study, by
Yen et al. (2008), adolescents with high Internet use presented
more psychopathology as revealed by the Brief Symptoms Inven-
tory (BSI, a reduced version of the Symptoms Checklist, SCL-90)
with respect to peers with low use. The authors found that adoles-
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 932533000; fax: +34 932533031.
E-mail address: ursulao@blanquerna.url.edu (U. Oberst).
cents with Internet addiction as well as those with substance use
problems had significantly higher values in the global pathology
indices of the BSI (GSI, PST, PSDI) and in other dimensions, such
as hostility, depression, phobic anxiety and additional symptoms.
However, the methodology and results of the initial studies have
been criticized and revised. For instance, Kraut et al. (1998) had
claimed that pathological use of the new technologies reduces
the individual’s social implication in the real world and, as a con-
sequence, his or her psychological well-being, because it produces
the kind of isolation, loneliness and depression the individual
wants to ease by connecting to the Internet (‘‘Internet paradox”).
Spending a great deal of time and money in virtual activities may
also reduce the individual’s dedication to other social, academic
or work activities and therefore produce an impairment in his or
her performance. But in a later study (Kraut et al., 2002), the initial
proponents of the Internet paradox were not able to repeat their
findings, neither could other authors establish a relationship be-
tween excessive Internet use and psychological distress (Wästlund,
Norlander, & Archer, 2001). Some even found a beneficial effect of
its use for community life (Bargh & McKenna, 2004). Thus, the exis-
tence of ‘‘Internet addiction” as a clinical entity and the question of
how Internet abuse can influence psychological maladjustment is
still under discussion, but there is an increasing movement to in-
clude ‘‘Internet addiction” into the next edition of the Diagnostic

0747-5632/$ - see front matter Ó 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

doi:10.1016/j.chb.2009.03.001
 Author's personal copy
M. Beranuy et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 25 (2009) 1182–1187
and Statistical Manual for Psychiatric Disorders (DSM-V) (Block,
2008). According to Block, this disorder belongs to the compul-
sive–impulsive spectrum and has become one of the most serious
public health issues in South Korea and probably other Asian coun-
tries. Detailed clinical cases have been described not only in the
USA (Black et al., 1999; Shapira, Goldsmith, Keck, Khosla, & McEl-
roy, 2000; Shapira et al., 2003; Young, 1996, 1998, 2007), but also
in Great Britain (Griffiths, 2000), Italy (Nardone & Cagnoni, 2003),
and Spain (Sanz, Carmona, & Marín, 2004; Vaticón, Bayón, Pascual,
& García, 2001). Consequently, these patients are susceptible to be
treated by cognitive-behavior therapy (Young, 2007). Young argues
that Internet addicts present more catastrophic cognitions than
non-addicts, which contribute to the compulsive Internet use in
providing a psychological escape mechanism to avoid real or per-
ceived problems.
Addiction to or maladaptive use of the mobile phone has re-
ceived less scientific attention, though Kamibeppu and Sugiura
(2005) and Billieux, Van der Linden, D’Acremont, Ceschi, and
Zermatten (2007) suggest its addictive potential should not be
ignored. Jenaro, Flores, Gómez-Vela, González-Gil, and Caballo
(2007) found a pathological use of the mobile phone in 8% of Span-
ish university students.
It seems to be established that maladaptive Internet use and,
probably to a lesser degree, maladaptive mobile phone use, can
produce psychological disorders in a certain type of users. The
challenge in the future will be to identify users who are at risk,
to establish which are the variables that predisposes them to
developing Internet-related pathology, and, if possible, to develop
preventive measures. One of the risk factors under discussion is
personality. Black et al. (1999) in a sample of compulsive computer
users found that approximately half of them fulfilled criteria for a
personality disorder, being the borderline personality disorder the
most frequent, followed by the antisocial. Another risk factor these
authors could identify was a clinical history of affective disorder,
anxiety and substance abuse. In this sense, psychological problems
can as well be not only a consequence but also a cause or a con-
comitant of maladaptive Internet use. On the other hand, it is well
established that negative emotional states and emotion dysregula-
tion can lead to a variety of addictive and compulsive behaviors.
The ability to perceive, process, and understand emotions (one’s
own and others’) has been termed emotional intelligence (EI) by
Salovey and Mayer (1990), and in the last two decades, this con-
struct has emerged as an important predictor of subjective well-
being (e.g. Austin, Saklofske, & Egan, 2007) and psychological
adjustment in general. In change, mental disorder was found to
be associated with low scores in emotional intelligence measures
(Lizeretti, Oberst, Chamarro, & Farriols, 2006). Although EI was ini-
tially criticized for lacking construct validity (e.g. Davies, Stankov,
& Roberts, 1998) and although there is still no consensus about the
components of EI, some of the different models proposed are now
well established in the scientific community. For the purpose of
our study, we adhere to one of the most frequently cited models,
the ability model developed by Mayer, Salovey, and Caruso
(2002), in which EI is considered to be a set of cognitive-emotional
abilities divided into four hierarchically ordered branches (percep-
tion, appreciation and expression of emotions; emotional facilita-
tion of thought; understanding, analysis and use of emotional
knowledge; reflexive regulation of emotions). A variety of studies
have shown a positive relationship between EI and physical and
psychological health, psychological adjustment as well as success
in life (Brackett & Mayer, 2003; Charbonneau & Nicol, 2002;
Extremera & Fernández-Berrocal, 2006; Palmer, Donaldson, &
Stough, 2002). With respect to substance use, some authors found
a relationship between low emotional intelligence and substance
use problems (Limonero, Tomás-Sábado, & Fernández-Castro,
2006; Reay, Hamilton, & Kennedy, 2006; Riley & Schutte, 2003).
1183
Concerning the use of the Internet, there are still few studies that
deal explicitly with Internet addiction and emotional intelligence
(Engelberg & Sjöberg, 2004). While in non-addicted Internet users,
college students who spent more time e-mailing had a higher over-
all emotional intelligence score (Woods, 2001), other studies found
a relationship between maladaptive Internet use and lower EI
scores. In Engelberg and Sjöberg’s (2004) study, use of the Internet
was significantly related to loneliness and adherence to idiosyn-
cratic values and, more weakly, to emotional intelligence. The
authors conclude that frequent Internet users tend to be lonely,
have deviant values and lack a certain degree of emotional and so-
cial skills. Parker, Taylor, Eastabrook, Schell, and Wood (2008) found
that (low) EI was a moderate to strong predictor of addiction-re-
lated behavior (gambling, Internet use, and video game playing).
To summarize, low EI has proven to be a predictor of or a medi-
ator for psychological maladjustment. We therefore hypothesize
that low EI could also play a mediating role in the development
of psychological distress related to Internet or mobile phone use,
expressed for example as a deficit in the regulation of affective
states. Young (2007), for instance, argues that compulsive behavior
in patients with Internet addiction serves to reduce an underlying
emotional tension as well as a reward for future behavior. In this
sense, and according to Young, Internet addicts turn to the com-
puter in order to find relief from moments of painful tensional
states present in their lives.
1.1. Purpose of this study
The purpose of this study is to establish the degree to which
maladaptive use of the Internet and the mobile phone is related
to psychological distress, expressed as self-perception of symp-
toms that appear in different mental disorders, using a sample of
college students. It also aims at clarifying the role of emotional fac-
tors, expressed as the self-perception of subcomponents of emo-
tional intelligence, in the development of psychological problems
related to ICT abuse. Furthermore, the study tries to establish
whether there are differences with respect to gender and major
studies enrolled.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Participants
The sample consisted of 404 undergraduate students in their
first year at Ramon Llull University (Barcelona, Spain), majoring
in four different studies: Psychology (20%), Education (31.5%), Jour-
nalism and Broadcasting (12.9%), and Health Studies (consisting of
Speech Therapy, Physical Activity and Sports, Physical Therapy,
Nursing, and Nutrition and Dietetics; 35.6%). All students possess
mobile phones and have access to Internet and use it as part of
their academic activity. Questionnaires were administered to the
participants in a classroom setting during the academic years
2005–2006 and 2006–2007 by a team of trained graduate students.
Participation was voluntary; six students declined participation, 33
had to be excluded for not replying properly to all questionnaires,
so the final sample consisted of 365 participants, 91 males and 274
females, with a mean age of 21.37 years (SD = 5.463).
2.2. Instruments
CERI – Cuestionario de Experiencias Relacionadas con Internet
(Questionnaire of Experiences related to Internet); the CERI is a
20-item 4 point-Likert scale questionnaire. It is based on a Spanish
questionnaire developed by de Gracia, Vigo, Fernández Pérez, and
Marco (2002), the Cuestionario de Problemas relacionados con el
uso de Internet (PRI, Questionnaire of Internet use related prob-
 Author's personal copy

1184 M. Beranuy et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 25 (2009) 1182–1187

Table 1 subject’s Perceived Emotional Intelligence (PEI); with respect to

Sample distribution.
Studies Total number of students Males Females
Psychology 73 11 62
Education 115 12 103
Health 130 47 83
Journalism 47 21 26
Total 365 91 274
lems), which followed the DSM-IV criteria for substance abuse and
pathological gambling. In our questionnaire, some items of the PRI
items were slightly changed to improve understanding and to give
them a less pathological connotation. Our final questionnaire in-
cludes statements with respect to the negative correlates of Inter-
net abuse: increment of tolerance, negative effects on behavior,
deterioration of family and social relationships, reduction of other
activities, loss of control, tendency to evade problems, and craving
to get online. Example of item (craving): ‘‘How often do you antic-
ipate your next online session?” Analysis of internal consistence
yielded a Cronbach’s alpha of .873.
CERM – Cuestionario de Experiencias Relacionadas con el Móvil
(Questionnaire of Experiences related to mobile phone use). The
CERM is a 20-item 4 point-Likert scale questionnaire developed on
the basis of the CERI, but related to mobile phone abuse. The word
‘‘Internet” was changed into ‘‘mobile phone” in all items, except
for three, which were completely modified and adapted to this tech-
nology. Thus, the CERM also assesses increment of tolerance, nega-
tive effects on behavior, deterioration of family and social
relationships, reduction of other activities, loss of control, tendency
to evade problems, and craving. Example of item (tolerance): ‘‘Do
you feel the need for investing more and more time in using the mo-
bile phone in order to be satisfied?” Cronbach’s alpha of the CERM
was .859.
In a previous study to assess the construct validity of both
scales (Beranuy, Chamarro, Graner, & Carbonell, in press), the CERI
was shown to assess intra- and inter-personal conflicts due to mal-
adaptive Internet use, and its pattern is similar to what can be de-
scribed as an addiction; in change, the CERM was more sensitive to
problems in emotion-related communication than to what can be
interpreted as an addiction.
Trait Meta-Mood Scale (TMMS-24) by Fernández-Berrocal, Extre-
mera, and Ramos (2004); original version by Salovey, Mayer,
Goldman, Turvey, and Palfai (1995). The TMMS-24 is a 24-item
self-report scale of Perceived Emotional Intelligence (PEI). It con-
sists of three subscales: Attention to Emotion (degree to which
respondents pay attention to their moods and emotions), Clarity
of Emotion (degree to which respondents believe they are able to
understand their emotions), and Repair of Emotion (degree to
which respondents believe they are able to repair their emotions).
The higher the score in the Clarity and Repair scale, the higher the
the Attention scale, too much attention to one’s emotions has
Age shown to be associated with psychological maladjustment and
M SD anxiety problems (Extremera & Fernández-Berrocal, 2006); there-
fore, the authors postulate an optimum range considered as ade-
21.95 6.506
21.29 3.306
quate PEI in the Attention subscale (between 22 and 32 points
22.03 6.900 for males and between 25 and 35 for females). The Spanish version
18.96 1.632 of the scale has been shown to have good psychometric properties.
21.37 5.463 In our study, the internal consistency for Attention was alpha = .90
(the same as in the original study by Fernández-Berrocal et al.,
2004), for Clarity .89 (.86 in the original study), and for Repair
.86 (same as in the original study).
Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R). The Symptom Checklist-90
(SCL-90-R, Derogatis, 2002) was used to check for complaints indi-
cating the presence of psychological distress. The SCL-90-R is a
90-item self-assessment questionnaire for symptoms of different
mental disorders; for the purpose of our study, only the global indi-
ces were used: Global Severity Index (GSI), designed to measure
overall psychological distress; Positive Symptom Distress Index
(PSDI), designed to measure the intensity of symptoms; and Positive
Symptom Total (PST), which reports number of self-reported
symptoms.
2.3. Data analysis
Descriptive statistics were obtained for all variables; also, t-tests
were run to check for possible gender differences. To test the effect of
gender and major study on the dependent variables, a MANOVA
analysis was conducted. To identify the possible relations between
variables, Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated. In order
to identify the variance of psychological distress (the three SCL-90
indices) explained by the different dimensions of emotional intelli-
gence, a stepwise hierarchical regression analysis was conducted.
The variables were introduced one by one into the regression equa-
tion, leaving for the final step those variables from which a major
contribution was expected. Thus, the analysis was divided into four
steps. The scores of CERI and CERM were introduced first, followed
sequentially by the three dimensions of PEI (Attention, Clarity, and
Repair), in this order. For each variable, the increment of R2 (indicator
of the contribution of each variable) is presented.
3. Results
Table 1 presents the sample distribution with respect to study
group. No significant age differences were found for men and
women (t(337) = .998, p = .319).
Table 2 presents the means and standard deviations of the vari-
ables for studies and gender.
The MANOVA yielded significant effects for gender
(F[5, 353] = 3.12; p = .009; Wilk’s k = .96) and studies

Table 2
Means and standard deviations of the variables for study group and gender.

Variable Psychology Education Health Journalism Total

Males Females Males Females Males Females Males Females Males Females
CERI 27.82 (6.063) 25.89 (6.252) 24.92 (4.963) 24.43 (5.044) 25.47 (6.49) 24.78 (4.869) 28.48 (6.831) 29 (6.481) 26.37 (6.403) 25.30 (5.564)
CERM 24.45 (4.344) 27.24 (6.18) 24.17 (3.298) 25.18 (5.372) 25.49 (6.701) 26.31 (5.955) 23.24 (3.315) 25.46 (3.992) 24.67 (5.449) 26.02 (5.664)
GSI 0.727 (0.252) 0.673 (0.369) 0.493 (0.387) 0.57 (0.389) 0.513 (0.41) 0.631 (0.425) 0.646 (0.452) 0.739 (0.423) 0.567 (0.404) 0.628 (0.404)
PST 46.64 (15.227) 39.84 (16.504) 31.83 (20.841) 34.48 (18.011) 33.30 (22.344) 35.64 (16.64) 33.9 (19.672) 38.54 (17.646) 34.86 (20.969) 36.43 (17.275)
PSDI 1.422 (0.204) 1.461 (0.342) 1.325 (0.303) 1.401 (0.349) 1.306 (0.317) 1.495 (0.404) 1.557 (0.438) 1.615 (0.441) 1.38 (0.348) 1.463 (0.377)
EI-Attention 27.55 (5.392) 28.24 (5.731) 24.67 (7.088) 25.17 (5.972) 23.02 (5.577) 25.40 (6.311) 23.52 (6.439) 27.42 (7.072) 23.9 (6.052) 26.15 (6.237)
EI-Clarity 24.73 (5.658) 24.63 (6.009) 25.25 (5.61) 25.21 (6.024) 23.64 (5.821) 23.59 (6.569) 24.71 (6.604) 23.15 (6.123) 24.23 (5.901) 24.39 (6.215)
EI-Repair 24.18 (4.665) 24.6 (7.148) 25.33 (7.655) 23.91 (5.698) 24.6 (5.789) 24.18 (7.076) 25.71 (5.781) 25.62 (6.917) 24.90 (5.867) 24.31 (6.574)

GSI, Global Severity Index (SCL-90).

PST, Positive Symptom Total (SCL-90).
PSDI, Positive Symptom Distress Index (SCL-90).
 Author's personal copy

M. Beranuy et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 25 (2009) 1182–1187 1185

(F[15, 974] = 3.22; p = .000; Wilk’s k = .87). The interaction was not Table 4
significant (F[15, 974] = .51; p = .93; Wilk’s k = .98). Unvaried re- Intercorrelation matrix.

sults indicated gender differences for CERM (F[1, 357] = 4.69, Correlations
p = .031) and PEI-Attention (F[1, 357] = 4.70, p = .03), being the fe- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
males who score higher in the CERM and in Attention to emotions;
1. CERI
i.e. women show more maladaptive behavior with respect to mo- 2. CERM 0.52**
bile phone use and pay more attention to their emotions. 3. GSI 0.341** 0.295**
As shown in Table 3, there were significant differences in major 4. PST 0.356** 0.305** 0.913**
studies for CERI (F[3, 357] = 5.62, p = .001), PSDI (F[3, 357] = 3.57, 5. PSDI 0.2** 0.173** 0.754** 0.468**
6. Attention 0.164** 0.197** 0.264** 0.205** 0.261**
p = .014), and Attention (F[3, 357] = 3.54, p = .013); pair wise com-
7. Clarity 0.11* 0.094 0.117* 0.171** 0.039 0.262**
parisons revealed that the students of Journalism and Broadcasting 8. Repair 0.106* 0.142** 0.143** 0.160** 0.029 0.075 0.431**
had significantly higher CERI scores (i.e. have more problems with *
p < .05.
internet use) than students of Education (difference between **
p < .001.
means = 4.41) and Health Studies (difference between
means = 3.88). The Journalism students also scored higher in PSDI
than those from the Teaching Studies (difference between Table 5
means = .019), i.e. referred higher psychological distress. Psychol- Hierarchical stepwise regression.
ogy students had significantly higher scores in Attention to emo-
Variable R2 Increment R2 F b
tions than students of Education (difference between
GSI
means = 2.95) and of Health Studies (difference between
Step 1 CERM .087 .087 22.16** .016
means = 3.60). With respect to mobile phone use, no significant Step 2 EI-A .131 .044 .017
differences were found among major studies. Step 3 EI-C .156 .025 .011
Table 4 presents the intercorrelations between the variables of Step 1 CERI .117 .117 26.85** .020
this study. As expected, CERI and CERM presented a significant cor- Step 2 EI-A .161 .044 .017
relation, as they had been designed together and represent similar Step 3 EI-C .182 .022 .010
constructs (abuse of ICT). There were significant correlations be- PST
tween the scores for Internet and mobile phone use (CERI and Step 1 CERM .093 .093 21.61** .794
CERM) and the other variables of the study. A significant positive Step 2 EI-A .115 .022 .611
Step 3 EI-C .152 .037 .603
correlation was found between CERI and CERM on one hand and
manifestations of mental distress on the other (GSI, PST, PSDI). Step 1 CERI .127 .127 26.75** .948
Step 2 EI-A .149 .022 .599
Also, CERI and CERM correlated positively with PEI-Attention; CERI Step 3 EI-C .182 .033 .570
correlated negatively with PEI-Clarity and PEI-Repair, whereas
PSDI
CERM correlated negatively with PEI-Repair, though these correla- Step 1 CERM .030 .030 16.44** .008
tions are rather low. As expected from other studies on emotional Step 2 EI-A .083 .053 .014
intelligence, there were also positive correlations between the Step 1 CERI .040 .040 18.66** .010
Symptom Checklist variables and Attention, and negative correla- Step 2 EI-A .093 .053 .014
tions between the Symptom Checklist variables on one hand, and **
p < .001.
Clarity and Repair on the other.
The results of the stepwise hierarchical regression analysis are
shown in Table 5. Mobile phone use accounted for 8.7% of the var- tional 4.4%, and PEI-Clarity for 2.5%. The three variables jointly
iance of GSI (global severity), PEI-Attention accounted for an addi- explained 15.6% of the variance of GSI (F[3, 361] = 22.16;
p = .000). When Internet use was considered, it explained 11.7%
Table 3 of variance, PEI-Attention accounted for an additional 4.4%, and
Analysis of variance for gender and study group. PEI-Clarity for 2.2%. The three variables jointly explained 18.2% of
the variance of GSI (F[3, 361] = 26.85; p = .000). With respect to
Source Variable df F n p
PST (total of positive symptoms), mobile use accounted for 9.3%
Gender CERI 1, 357 0.649 361 .421
of the explained variance, followed by PEI-Attention and PEI-Clar-
CERM 1, 357 4.696 361 .031
GSI 1, 357 1.059 361 .304 ity (increments in R2 = .022 and .037, respectively). The three vari-
PST 1, 357 0.075 361 .784 ables explained 15.2% of the variance of GSI (F[3, 361] = 21.61;
PSDI 1, 357 3.072 361 .080 p = .000). When Internet use was considered, it explained 12.7%
Attention 1, 357 4.702 361 .031 of variance, followed by PEI-Attention and PEI-Clarity (increments
Clarity 1, 357 0.252 361 .616
Repair 1, 357 0.174 361 .677
in R2 = .022 and .033, respectively). The three variables explained
Study group CERI 3, 357 5.628 361 .001 18.2% of the variance of GSI (F[3, 361] = 26.75; p = .000). Finally,
CERM 3, 357 1.187 361 .315 with respect to PSDI (positive symptom distress), mobile phone
GSI 3, 357 2.182 361 .090 use accounted for 3% of the variance and PEI-Attention accounted
PST 3, 357 2.609 361 .051
for an additional 5.3%. Both together explained 8.3% of variance
PSDI 3, 357 3.575 361 .014
Attention 3, 357 3.541 361 .015 (F[2, 362] = 16.44; p = .000). Internet use accounted for 4% of vari-
Clarity 3, 357 0.857 361 .463 ance and PEI-Attention for an additional 5.3%. Both accounted for
Repair 3, 357 0.471 361 .703 a 9.3% of variance (F[2, 362] = 18.66; p = .000).
Gender  study group CERI 3, 357 0.327 361 .806
CERM 3, 357 0.398 361 .755
4. Discussion
GSI 3, 357 0.444 361 .722
PST 3, 357 0.799 361 .495
PSDI 3, 357 0.670 361 .571 Our hypothesis, that maladaptive use of Internet is related to
Attention 3, 357 0.770 361 .511 psychological distress in college students has been confirmed, in
Clarity 3, 357 0.189 361 .904
accordance with previous studies with high school and college stu-
Repair 3, 357 0.148 361 .931
dents where problematic users showed less self-esteem (Niemz
 Author's personal copy
1186 M. Beranuy et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 25 (2009) 1182–1187
et al., 2005), more loneliness (Morahan-Martin & Schumacher,
2000), more loneliness and depression (Özcan & Buzlu, 2007) and
more depression, anxiety and sleep disturbances (Viñas et al.,
2002), as well as higher scores in the general indices of the SCL-
90-R (Cerutti, Manca, & Presaghi, 2006; Yang, Choe, & Baity,
2005). To a lesser degree, it has also been confirmed that the sub-
components of Perceived Emotional Intelligence are related to mal-
adaptive use; especially, the Repair component is related to less
maladaptive use, whereas the Attention component is related to
a more maladaptive use of the Internet and the mobile phone. As
yielded in the regression analysis, the subcomponents of Perceived
Emotional Intelligence contribute to the predictive capacity of mal-
adaptive use, but to a lesser degree than maladaptive use itself. On
the other hand, students who show negative consequences of
Internet use, also tend to do so with respect to the mobile phone,
so the two maladaptive behaviors jointly contribute to more psy-
chological distress.
Our results also show different patterns of maladaptive use of
the new technologies with respect to gender and to major study.
First, students of different majors make different use of the new
technologies, the students of Journalism and Broadcasting making
the most intensive and maladaptive use of the Internet. This
could be related to that fact that students of this degree are re-
quired to make a more extensive use of the new technologies
for academic and professional purposes, so it has to be explored
to what degree these requirements with respect to the new tech-
nologies can lead to abuse and, directly or indirectly, to symp-
toms of technological addiction. Second, the females in our
research show more negative consequences of maladaptive mo-
bile phone use than males. This may be related to other findings
that show that females use the mobile phone mainly to establish
and maintain social relationships, while males prefer to use it for
commercial aspects, coordination, and entertainment (Bianchi &
Phillips, 2005; Ling, 2002; Mante & Piris, 2002). Maintaining so-
cial relationships is an activity that involves more emotional
engagement than entertainment; together with the general find-
ing that females also score higher than males in the Attention
component of Perceived Emotional Intelligence, reproduced in
our study, we can speculate that women are more vulnerable to
experiment psychological distress related the mobile phone, be-
cause they deal with more emotion-loaded issues and tend to en-
gage in ruminating behavior about these issues. It has also to be
kept in mind that the use of the Internet has shifted in the last
fifteen years from pure technological and scientific functions to-
wards more recreational functions. Finally, our results are, of
course, only correlational. Future research in the topic of mal-
adaptive use of ICTs should investigate the nature of this
relationship and if maladaptive use leads to psychological distress
and/or mental disorders, or vice versa, i.e. if an underlying disor-
der predisposes the individual to make a pathological use of these
technologies. We also agree with Yen et al. (2008), that both dis-
orders (psychiatric symptoms and Internet addiction) can interact
and precipitate the onset and persistence of each other.
Acknowledgements
This research has been partially financed with a grant by the
Department of Science and Innovation of the Spanish Government
(Ref: AP2005-2426) and FPCCE Blanquerna Grant No. CER05/08-
105C06.
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