Exploration of Psychological Mechanism of Smartphone Addiction Among International Students of China by Selecting the Framework of the I-PACE Model

The I-PACE (interaction of person-affect-cognition-execution) model explains that the causes of addiction are the result of individual susceptibility (genetic and personality), psychopathological factors (negative emotions), and cognitive and affective factor interaction. The issue of smartphone addiction and its emerging effects are now becoming an essential social enigma. This study is aimed at exploring how personal, affective, cognitive, and execution factors accelerate the mechanism of smartphone addiction among international students. Randomly selected, six hundred international students have constituted the population for our study. All participants were asked to complete self-administered questionnaires. The questionnaire included demographics (gender, place of stay, educational level, and reason for smartphone usage), Mobile Phone Addiction Index, Loneliness Scale (UCLA), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Beck Depression Inventory, Perceived Stress Scale, Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, and Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS. 20.3% (n = 122) of international students are agonized with smartphone addiction, while 79.7% (n = 478) use smartphones at an average level. Students’ place of stay, neuroticism personality, social desirability, self-esteem, loneliness, depression, perceived stress, and passive coping are associated with smartphone addiction. Loneliness and depression show a strong positive significant correlation, among other variables while loneliness, neurotic personality, depression, low self-esteem, stress, and passive coping are risk factors for smartphone addiction. This study reveals that international students are a high-risk group for smartphone addiction. It has a great deal of impact on students’ behavior and psyche. Multiple social, psychological, affective, and cognitive factors affect smartphone addiction. It would be beneficial to direct the students to limit their phone usage and indulge in other healthy physical activities to complete academic goals.