The impact of smartphone addiction on PTSD symptoms among South African university students: resilience as a protective factor

Abstract

Highlights: What are the main findings? Problematic smartphone use was significantly associated with higher levels of post-traumatic stress symptoms among South African university students. Resilience moderated this relationship, buffering the impact of smartphone addiction on PTSD symptoms and reducing psychological distress among individuals with higher resilience. Resilience did not significantly moderate the relationship between smartphone addiction and the re-experiencing or hyperarousal clusters, suggesting that these physiologically driven aspects of post-traumatic distress are less amenable to cog-nitive or emotional coping resources. What is the implication of the main findings? Strengthening resilience may serve as an effective strategy to mitigate the negative mental health effects of excessive smartphone use in trauma-exposed populations. University-based mental health initiatives should integrate digital wellbeing and resilience-building interventions to promote healthier coping and reduce vulnerability to distress. Background: Problematic smartphone use has emerged as a growing concern among young adults and has been linked to adverse mental health outcomes. However, limited research has examined how protective factors such as resilience may buffer the relationship between smartphone addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Methods: Participants (n = 491, (Formula presented.) age = 21.22 years) were students enrolled at a university in the Western Cape province of South Africa. They completed three standardized measures: the Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale, the Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale-10, and the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for DSM-5. Moderation analyses were conducted using the PROCESS macro for SPSS to examine whether resilience moderated the association between smartphone addiction and post-traumatic stress symptoms. Results: Higher levels of smartphone addiction were significantly associated with elevated PTSD symptoms across all clusters. Resilience emerged as a significant protective factor, exerting direct effects on several PTSD symptom clusters and moderating the association between smartphone addiction and the avoidance and negative alterations in cognition and mood clusters. However, resilience did not significantly moderate the relationship between smartphone addiction and the re-experiencing or hyperarousal clusters, suggesting that these physiologically driven aspects of post-traumatic distress are less amenable to cognitive or emotional coping resources. Conclusions: These findings highlight resilience as a key buffer in the relationship between problematic smartphone use and trauma-related distress. While strengthening resilience may mitigate certain cognitive and affective dimensions of PTSD associated with excessive smartphone use, interventions may need to incorporate strategies to effectively address hyperarousal and intrusive re-experiencing symptoms among trauma-exposed students.