Problem Mobile Phone Use in Spanish and British Adolescents: First steps towards a cross-cultural research in Europe

The problematic use of mobile phones in some adolescents is a cause for concern throughout the world, although this problem has rarely been studied in more than one culture. The Mobile Phone Problem Use Scale (MPPUS) has been considered a gold standard, and recently has been adapted to adolescents (MPPUSA) to estimate problem users’ prevalence and their characteristics. A mixed methods approach was used through a questionnaire administered to a European sample of 2356 (48% Spanish and 52% British adolescents) aged between 11 and 18 years (M=14.05, SD=1.729; 60.9% male). The problem users’ prevalence, with a cut-off point extracted from the 95th percentile score estimated 14.9% in Spain and 5.1% in United Kingdom. These potential problem users presented higher scores in the symptomatology measured by the scale in comparison with those considered non-problematic, and the classification proposed showed an excellent accuracy. However, cultural differences has been detected between both user’s countries in relation with the addictive symptoms presented, standing out were withdrawal symptoms against the negative consequences, also commonalities appeared in this psychosocial problem. In conclusion, the findings shed light on the main addictive symptoms which appear in the use of mobile phones, similar to other technological behavioural addictions; therefore, the first steps are proposed to study the mobile phone problem based on cyber-addictions in a cross-cultural perspective.