Aggressiveness mediates the relationship between self-esteem and problematic smartphone use

This study investigated the association between self-esteem and problematic smartphone use, and examined the mediating role of aggressiveness. The sample comprised 167 college students. The results indicated that explicit, but not implicit, self-esteem was negatively correlated with problematic smartphone use. Further, aggressiveness mediated the link between explicit self-esteem and problematic smartphone use. These findings may help scholars to develop interventions to reduce problematic smartphone use among individuals with low explicit self-esteem.