Inhibitory Control in Problematic Smartphone and

Internet Use Among Emerging Adults:

The Roles of Gender, Loneliness, and Self-Control

Agnes Sianipar

Faculty of Psychology
Universitas Indonesia
According to the ICT Usage Survey by Kominfo (2017),

75,95%
of smartphone users in Indonesia
are young adults
with varied smartphone usage durations ranging from less
than 1 hour to more than 10 hours per day.

Indonesian residents are connected

210 million to the internet
(Association of Indonesian Internet
Service Providers, 2022).

Thus, smartphone and Internet have become part of

everyday life
Excessive and uncontrolled smartphone use can have
various negative impacts such as:

• Poor sleep quality

• Trigger procrastination behavior
• Disrupts learning focus
• Lower Social Connectedness
(Loneliness)
• Social anxiety
• Depression

This excessive and uncontrolled use of smartphones

and Internet have begun to be widely researched in
various countries under the name

Problematic Smartphone Use (PSU)

Problematic Internet Use (PIU)
 Problematic Smartphone Use (PSU)
PSU refers to a behavioral pattern of excessive, compulsive and uncontrolled
smartphone use that can cause disruption to daily life
(Servidio, 2019; Lo Coco et al., 2020; Busch & McCarthy, 2021).

The term PSU does not refer to illegal and irresponsible smartphone use behaviors,
such as online stalking, cyberbullying, spreading hoaxes, distributing non-consensual
pornography, etc. (Busch & McCarthy, 2021)
 Problematic Internet Use (PIU)
PIU refers to the excessive and compulsive use of the internet that leads to negative
consequences in various aspects of an individual's life, including psychological, social,
academic, and occupational difficulties (Beard & Wolf, 2001)

PIU can be divided into two groups (Davis, 2001):

(a) Specific problematic internet use (SPIU): A condition where individuals use a specific
internet function excessively, such as online gambling, online trading, and so on.

(b) Generalized problematic internet use (GPIU): Generalized excessive internet use
(e.g., wasting time online, without a clear objective) and is related
to the social aspect of the Internet.
Previous studies have identified various psychological
factors that can predict PSU/PIU such as:

• Gender
• Self-reported self-control
• Loneliness
• Difficulties in Emotion Regulation
• Mental health conditions
• Tendency to follow trends
• Need for approval
Characteristics of individuals with PSU/PIU

• Difficulties in cognitive-emotion regulation

• Higher use of maladaptive emotion regulation (e.g. rumination,
blaming of others)
• Impulsivity (low self-control)
• Shyness
• Low self-esteem
• Loneliness
• Anxiety
• Emotional Instability
• Impaired cognitive functions (e.g., low inhibitory control)
 Self-Regulation
The process where an individual regulates and manages
their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors to achieve specific
goals (Zimmerman, 2000; Busch & McCarthy, 2021).

Self-control, one component of self-regulation, has been

extensively researched as a factor predicting PSU.
 Self-Regulation
? Smartphone
Addiction/
PSU

Some studies contradict previous findings on the role of

self-regulation processes as determinants of problematic
smartphone and internet use.
 Self-Regulation System
The self-regulation system has several components. For this system to
work effectively, each of these components needs to collaborate well.

Components There are certain conditions

that must be met for the self-
Bottom-up processing regulation system to work
• Response Inhibition effectively, such as:
• Attentional Inhibition
• Clear short-term and long-
term goals
Top-down processing • Sufficient capacity and
• The ability to maintain motivation to exert effort
optimal cognitive,
emotional, and
motivational attention to
the goals (self-reported
self-control)
 Self-Regulation System and Executive
Functions

According to Hofmann et al. (2012), executive functions act as a

cognitive component in the self-regulation system.

They explained that executive function components, like inhibitory

control, determine an individual's capacity in performing good self-
regulation.

Based on previous literature in cognitive neuroscience, it can be

concluded that inhibitory control plays a fundamental process role in
the self-regulation system that helps an individual control their
thoughts, emotions, and attention towards goals.
Inhibitory Control Network in PSU vs. Non-PSU

Menon & Uddin (2010); Ahn, et al. (2021)

NEUROCOGNITIVE MEASURE FOR INHIBITORY CONTROL

Stimuli in the Stroop Color-Word Interference Task

(Neutral, Congruent, and Incongruent Conditions)

Inhibitory Control : RT Incongruent – RT Congruent

Study 1

PSU and Inhibitory Control :

The Role of Gender

Chen et al. (2016): Smartphone features (e.g., sounds, visual

of different apps) allow users to multitask and make users
more easily distracted by irrelevant stimuli.

Given that excessive smartphone use consumes a

considerable amount of cognitive resources, inhibitory control
acts as a cognitive component of self-regulation that helps to
inhibit distractors.

Gender might modulate this relationship because males

were found to be more impulsive than females (Chappele &
Johnson, 2007; Hosseini-Kamkar & Burton, 2014) and
gender differences were found in previous addiction studies
(Bobzean et al., 2014).
 Study 1:
The effect of Smartphone Addiction on Stroop Effect (Inhibitory Control)
is moderated by gender (N = 282)

Table 1
Predictors of Stroop Effect with age as covariate

Stroop Effect

95% CIs (LLCI,

Measures b (SE)
ULCI)

Constant -1.6166 -0.7686 -3.1297, -.1034

Smartphone
1.2062** -0.4599 .3008, 2.1117
Addiction Group

Gender 0.3033 -0.2001 -.0907, .6972

SAS group x Gender -0.5236* -0.2614 -1.0381, -.0091

Covariate
Age 0.0432 -0.0313 -.0185, .1048
Study 2
Several studies found a significant
relationship between self-control
and Smartphone Addiction (PSU).
that self-regulation abilities were not found to
Past research explains that the better
one's self-control ability, the lower the
tendency to have PSU (Busch & McCarthy,
2021; Chang et al., 2019; Hofmann et al.,
2012; Jeong, Kim, Yum, & Hwang, 2016;
Roberts, Yaya, & Manolis, 2014; Servidio,
2021).
However, several other studies
challenge previous findings
regarding the role of self-control
in predicting PSU.
Research conducted by Kanthawongs et al.
(2016) and Iftikhar & Tariq (2014) showed
have a significant negative influence on PSU.
These findings raise questions about the
possibility of other psychological factors that
may influence the relationship between
self-control and PSU.
 Hypothesis 1
Self-control is a significant and negative predictor of PSU

Hypothesis 2
The negative association between self-control and PSU
is significantly moderated by inhibitory control (Stroop Effect)
 Inhibitory
Control

Problematic
Self-Control Smartphone
Use (PSU)
 Self
Control

Problematic Smartphone Addiction Scale - Short Version (SAS-SV)

• Developed by Kwon et al. (2013)
Smartphone • Self-report measure which consists of 10 items
Use

Stroop Task
Inhibitory • Inhibitory Control measurement
Control • Created on Opensesame v. 3.3.11, administered on an on-
line platform for experimental task at Mindprobe.eu.
 Study 2:
The effect of self-control on Smartphone Addiction
is moderated by inhibitory control (N = 130)

Table 2
Predictors of Smartphone Addiction with age as covariate
Self-Control
95% Cis (LLCI,
Measures b SE
ULCI)
Constant 45.2733 8.1836 29.0769, 61.4697
Self-Control -.2163 .0765** -.3678, -.0649
Inhibitory Control -.0106 -.0070 -.0032, .0244
Self-Control x IC -.0021 .0009* -.0039, -.0002
Covariates
Age -.5753 .3767 -1.3209, .1704
The coupling of strong top-down processing (e.g.,
self-driven capacity and motivation to implement
control) and automatic inhibitory control is critical to
resist tendency of smartphone addiction.

The higher an individual's inhibitory control ability,

the stronger the negative relationship between self-
control and PSU in that individual.

The findings in this study are in line with the results

of previous research (Busch & McCarthy, 2021;
Jeong et al., 2016; Servidio, 2021).
Study 3:
Loneliness mediates the
association of Inhibitory
Control and Internet
Addiction (PIU)
Past research explains that the
better one’s inhibitory control, the
lower the tendency to have PIU
(e.g., Demir & Kutlu, 2016; Dossi &
Pesce, 2023).
However, other studies did not
find the significant association
(e.g., Sum et al., 2008; Alqahtani et
al., 2020).
The role of inhibitory control in
predicting PIU might be influenced
by other factors.
Research conducted by Bozoglan et al. (2013)
and Saadati, et al. (2021) showed that
loneliness significantly predicted PIU.
Developmental studies conducted by
Rhoades, et al. (2009) and Evans et al. (2023)
showed that inhibitory control development
significantly predicted loneliness.
These findings raised a possibility of loneliness
to mediate the association between
inhibitory control and PSU.
 Study 3:
The association of Inhibitory Control on Internet Addiction
is fully mediated by loneliness (N = 146)

Loneliness
Path a = .0175* Path b = .5944***

c’ = .0153 Internet
Stroop Effect
Addiction
c = .0049
Discussion

Individuals who have poor inhibitory control abilities will tend to be

more susceptible to experiencing loneliness which can trigger them
to become addicted to the internet.

Therefore, interventions to prevent internet addiction among

emerging adults should consider inhibitory control ability and
target reducing loneliness.
Conclusion

• Good inhibitory control can reduce susceptibility to smartphone

addiction through strong self-control.

• Inhibitory control and self-control are different constructs but

both belong to the emotional regulation system.

• Increased inhibitory control can reduce loneliness and the

tendency to become addicted to the internet
Terima
Kasih!