Background: Smartphone usage in school-aged children has increased over the last two decades. This overuse interferes with emotion regulation and interpersonal relationships. The purpose of this work was to analyze the relationship between smartphone addiction risk and personality dimensions in primary school children.
Methods: The aim of this research is to verify the percentage of Smartphone Addiction (SA) in a sample of primary school children and to explore the relationship between personality dimensions and SA. The Smartphone Addiction Risk Children Questionnaire (SARCQ) and the Big Five Children (BFC) questionnaire were administered to a sample (N = 94) of children.
Results: We found that, in our sample, the percentage of children matching the definition of emotional addiction to smartphones was 16% and that a subgroup of children using smartphones as a transitional object represented 15% of the sample. The correlations between the SARCQ and BFC questionnaire factors showed a significant negative correlation between the "I'm not afraid with you" (INAWY) factor and Friendliness, Conscientiousness, and Openness, showing that children with low socialization capacities are prone to use smartphones as a means to handle negative internal states. In contrast, a positive correlation between the INAWY and the Emotional Instability factors has been observed. For the "Linus's Blanket" (LB) factor, a significant negative correlation with the Friendliness and Conscientiousness factors was observed.
Conclusions: The risk of SA, with the use of smartphones as "emotion-handling tools" or as "transitional objects", was observed in children with personality dimensions associated with higher risk.
Keywords: BFC; SARCQ; addiction; big five; children; new technology; personality; smartphone; structural equation models (SEMs).