Fear of COVID-19, loneliness, smartphone addiction, and mental wellbeing among the Turkish general population: a serial mediation model

KAYİŞ A. R., Satici B., DENİZ M. E., SATICI S. A., Griffiths M. D.

BEHAVIOUR & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, cilt.41, sa.11, ss.2484-2496, 2022 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 41 Sayı: 11
  • Basım Tarihi: 2022
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1080/0144929x.2021.1933181
  • Dergi Adı: BEHAVIOUR & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, FRANCIS, Aerospace Database, Applied Science & Technology Source, Business Source Elite, Business Source Premier, CINAHL, Communication & Mass Media Index, Communication Abstracts, Compendex, Computer & Applied Sciences, Educational research abstracts (ERA), INSPEC, Library and Information Science Abstracts, Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts (LISTA), Metadex, Psycinfo, Civil Engineering Abstracts
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.2484-2496
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: COVID-19, mental wellbeing, loneliness, smartphone addiction, fear of COVID-19, Turkey, PERCEIVED STRESS, STUDENTS, ANXIETY, CONSEQUENCES, RELIABILITY, DEPRESSION, OUTBREAK, VALIDITY, VERSION, THREAT
  • Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

The novel coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has become a major health problem worldwide. The impact of COVID-19 has also been associated with psychological and social problems. The main objective of the present study was to examine the associations between fear of COVID-19 and mental wellbeing, through a serial mediation analysis that included loneliness and smartphone addiction. Utilising convenience sampling from 73 of 81 cities in Turkey via the web-based survey the present study comprised 773 participants (556 females and 217 males; aged between 18 and 66 years) were collected. Self-report data were collected including psychometric measures assessing fear of COVID-19, loneliness, smartphone addiction, and mental wellbeing. Fear of COVID-19 was found to have both a direct and indirect effect on mental wellbeing. In addition, results supported a serial mediation model where fear of COVID-19 was found to influence mental wellbeing via loneliness and smartphone addiction in a sequential manner. The findings suggest that higher fear of COVID-19 is associated with lower mental wellbeing by negatively affecting individuals' emotion and behaviour.