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The incapacity to tolerate and benefit from solitude is theorized to originate in deficits in the early caregiving environment and has been implicated in adult psychopathology. Attachment anxiety, theoretically linked to an incapacity to be alone, has been shown to positively predict smartphone dependency among young adults. The present study examined the relationships between attachment anxiety, the capacity to be alone, and smartphone dependency among young adults. It was hypothesized that the association between attachment anxiety and smartphone dependency would be mediated by the capacity to be alone. Participants were 181 ethnically diverse young adults. Personality variables and smartphone dependency were assessed via self-report. Smartphone use was measured behaviorally through Apple’s Screen Time smartphone application. Greater attachment anxiety was associated with greater smartphone dependency; this relationship was mediated by the capacity to be alone. By contrast, neither attachment anxiety nor the capacity to be alone was predictive of actual smartphone use. These results inform our understanding of smartphone dependency and underscore the importance of the capacity to be alone for psychological well-being.

无法容忍孤独和获益于孤独,被理论化为源于早期养育环境中的缺陷,并一直与成人精神病理学有关。依恋焦虑,理论上与没有独处的能力有关,已被证明可以积极预测年轻人对智能手机的依赖。本文研究了依恋焦虑、独处能力与年轻人对智能手机的依赖之间的关系。假设依恋焦虑和智能手机依赖的关联可以通过独处的能力来进行调解。参加者是181名不同种族的年轻成人。人格变量和智能手机依赖是通过自我报告来评估的。智能手机的使用是通过苹果的屏幕时间智能手机应用来做行为测量的。更多的依恋焦虑与更多的智能手机依赖相关;这种关系可通过独处的能力来调解。相比之下,无论是依恋焦虑还是独处的能力,都无法预测智能手机的实际使用。这些结果有助于我们了解病理性的智能手机依赖,并强调了独处的能力对于心理健康的重要性。

Thinkers, psychoanalytic and otherwise, have long debated the merits of spending time alone. On the one hand, the pursuit of solitude has been attributed to a pathological incapacity to connect and share intimacy (e.g., Sullivan, 1953). In contrast, others have noted the opportunities for self-discovery, creativity, and spirituality afforded by time alone (e.g., Rousseau, 1782/1992; Storr, 1988). This disagreement may reflect individual differences in the subjective experience of aloneness that are intuitively obvious: some people prize time alone, others eschew it (Burger, 1995). Any...