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Little is known about the behavioural tendencies at the basis of smartphone use. The present research investigates delay discounting, the phenomenon whereby a smaller, immediate reward is preferred over a larger, delayed one, in smartphone use. In line with previous work on delay discounting in other domains, Study 1 (N = 81) showed that the hyperboloid function best fits the inter-temporal choices made by participants. Study 2 (N = 123) replicated this result and revealed that individuals who prefer communicating via smartphone (vs. face-to-face) showed a higher devaluation over time, whereas those more aware of smartphone negative impact showed less discounting. The present research yielded the first evidence that delay discounting might underlie inter-temporal choices of smartphone use. Implications of these results are discussed.

Peer status – the regard other group members have of an individual – is fundamental for youth development. Different research traditions developed independent theoretical frameworks conceiving the dimensions underlying social status, and this led to identifying a variety of peer status prototypes. In this work, we explored whether a classification based on the four dimensions of popularity, aggression, dislike, and victimization could integrate the scattered peer status profiles found in the different traditions. A latent profile analysis on 16,224 European students identified the peer status prototypes of popular, bullies, disliked, victims, and average students. Both the peer- and self-reported correlates supported that the five profiles accounted for the large variety of the students' profiles in the literature. These findings suggest that the adoption of a multidimensional approach supported by advanced statistical procedures could identify students' peer status profiles more effectively, replacing classifications based on cutoffs, and leading to a unified students' classification.

Most psychological research on social exclusion mainly focused on maximizing internal validity (e.g., controlling for confounding variables). However, maximizing external validity to produce generalizable knowledge about real-world experiences becomes increasingly essential. In the present study (N = 89), we adopted an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) design to track exclusionary experiences and their impact on psychological distress over 15 consecutive days. We tested the mediating effects of positive and negative emotions on the link between daily exclusionary experiences and psychological distress, examining the moderating role of experiential avoidance (EA). Results confirmed a large effect of social exclusion on distress mediated by positive and negative emotions. However, EA did not moderate the exclusion-distress link but was, unexpectedly, found to moderate the exclusion-positive emotions relationship. Specifically, this relationship was stronger for low (vs. high) levels of EA, indicating that adopting EA in response to perceived exclusion may provide a protective function from blunted positive emotions. The present study suggests the usefulness of investigating the occurrence and reactions to the daily experiences of social exclusion, going beyond the sole reliance on experimental manipulations, especially to explore the role of individual differences in working towards a more integrated theoretical model of exclusion.

Research to address the technical challenges of human missions into space is growing. Knowledge about the social-psychological aspects of individuals’ experiences of confinement within habitats in space missions or extreme environments is also rapidly expanding. Social isolation is among one of the best-known risk factors in these environments. This study focuses on the relationship between time spent in specific activities (e.g., talking about personal matters) and the social-psychological effects of social isolation and confinement as a part of the LUNARK project, which was aimed at building and testing the first Moon analog habitat. Two space architects took part in a 61-day mission in Northern Greenland to simulate human life conditions in the habitat as a prototype of a human settlement on the Moon. The two crew members independently filled out a time-based diary with self-report measures on their daily activities and negative emotions, feelings of loneliness, resignation, desire for social contact, and time perception. First, our results showed that, for either space architect, desire for social contact increased over time, whereas feelings of resignation did not. Moreover, the protective role of specific daily activities emerged. Talking about personal matters and leisure time were associated with a decrease in resignation, whereas talking about personal topics and physical exercising increased the desire for social contact. Finally, engaging in leisure activities increased the perceived speed of time. We discussed these results referring to research on the consequences of long-term social isolation in extreme human expeditions and social psychological models of social isolation.

Background and aims: Problematic smartphone use (PSU) has been described as a growing public health issue. In the current study, we aimed to provide a unique and comprehensive test of the pathway model of PSU. This model posits three distinct developmental pathways leading to PSU: (1) the excessive reassurance pathway, (2) the impulsive pathway and (3) the extraversion pathway.Methods: Undergraduate students (n = 795, 69.8% female, mean age = 23.80 years, sd = 3.02) completed online self-report measures of PSU (addictive use, antisocial use and dangerous use) and the psychological features (personality traits and psychopathological symptoms) underlying the three pathways.Results: Bayesian analyses revealed that addictive use is mainly driven by the excessive reassurance pathway and the impulsive pathway, for which candidate etiopathological factors include heightened negative urgency, a hyperactive behavioural inhibition system and symptoms of social anxiety. Dangerous and antisocial use are mainly driven by the impulsive pathway and the extraversion pathway, for which candidate etiopathological factors include specific impulsivity components (lack of premeditation and sensation seeking) and primary psychopathy (inclination to lie, lack of remorse, callousness and manipulativeness).Discussion and conclusions: The present study constitutes the first comprehensive test of the pathway model of PSU. We provide robust and original results regarding the psychological dimensions associated with each of the postulated pathways of PSU, which should be taken into account when considering regulation of smartphone use or tailoring prevention protocols to reduce problematic usage patterns.

The widespread diffusion of smartphones has opened new challenges regarding the psychological consequences of their usage on social relationships. The term phubbing (a combination of phone and snubbing) indicates the act of ignoring someone in a social context by paying attention to the smartphone. The few existing studies show that phubbing is widespread, mutually reinforced, and socially accepted, with possible negative consequences for social and individual well-being. Phubbing can occur in every social context, including romantic relationships, workplaces, and family. However, to date, minimal attention has been given to the possible impact that phubbing carried out by parents can have on their children. To start filling this gap, in this paper, we introduced a new scale that measures the perception of being subject to parental phubbing and showed the prevalence of perceived phubbing on a stratified sample of 3,289 adolescents. Firstly, the dimensionality, validity, and invariance of the construct were proven. Moreover, our results showed a positive relationship between children’s perceived levels of parental phubbing and their feelings of social disconnection with parents, thus suggesting that the more children felt that one or both of their parents were phubbing them, the less the children felt connected with their parents.

Smartphones are changing lives in a number of ways. However, the psychological literature has primarily focused on smartphone overuse, neglecting the impacts that are not strictly related to problematic use. The present research was aimed to develop a comprehensive self-report scale that accounts for the cognitive, affective, social, and behavioral impacts of smartphones in everyday life—the Smartphone Impact Scale (SIS). Study 1 (N = 407) yielded a preliminary version of the scale, which was refined in Study 2 (N = 601). The SIS is a 26-item scale that measures seven dimensions of smartphone impact. Results revealed meaningful associations between its subscales, psychosocial constructs, and daily usage of smartphones and apps. The SIS broadens the view of human–smartphone interaction by extending the concept of problematic smartphone use to further dimensions (e.g., emotion regulation) and introducing a proper measurement of underinvestigated smartphone impacts (e.g., tasks support). The implications of each SIS subscale are discussed.

There exists uncertainty for clinicians over how the separate subcomponent processes of psychological flexibility, a core construct of the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy model, interact and influence distress experienced. The present study (N = 567) employed latent class analysis to (a) identify potential classes (i.e., subgroups) of psychological flexibility based on responses on measures of key subcomponent process and (b) examine whether such classes could reliably differentiate levels of self-reported psychological distress and positive and negative emotionality. We found three distinct classes: (a) High Psychological Flexibility, (b) Moderate Psychological Flexibility, and (c) Low Psychological Flexibility. Those in the Low Psychology Flexibility class reported highest levels of psychological distress, whereas those in the High Psychological Flexibility class reported lowest levels of psychological distress. This study provides a clearer view to clinicians of the profile of the broader spectrum of the psychological flexibility model to facilitate change in clients.