Gyöngyi Kökönyei

Background and objectives Work addiction (WA), characterized by dimensions such as overcommitment, difficulties in detachment from work, and work-life imbalance, is presumed to be associated with increased smartphone usage, even during risky activities like driving. The study investigated the connection between WA and future problematic and hazardous smartphone use, considering personality factors: anxiety, rumination, and worry. Methods A three-wave longitudinal study ( N = 1,866) was conducted from March to July 2019, June to September 2020, and June to November 2021, involving a representative sample of 18-34-year-old residents in Hungary's capital. The study employed Hungarian versions of the Bergen Work Addiction Scale, Problematic Mobile Phone Use Questionnaire, Ruminative Response Scale, Anxiety subscale of the Brief Symptom Inventory 18, and Penn-State Worry Questionnaire. Additionally, author-developed questions on mobile phone use while driving were included. Results At baseline, those at risk for WA showed more frequent mobile phone use while driving at both time points 2 and 3 compared to the non-risk group. Path analyses revealed rumination, anxiety at time 1, and worry at time 2 as significant mediators between baseline WA and mobile phone use while driving at time 3. However, when analyzing all three mediators together, only anxiety at time 1 and worry at time 2 remained significant. Discussion and conclusion This study demonstrates that WA predicts future mobile phone use while driving through mediation by anxiety and worry. Our findings add to the growing evidence highlighting the detrimental aspects of WA, emphasizing the need for improved prevention and treatment strategies.

Background Rumination has mostly been studied in relation to depression, however, it may also occur in response to positive emotions (i.e., positive rumination) and therefore may be a protective factor related to the maintenance of positive mood. Objective We hypothesized that daily positive and negative affect would be associated with daily positive and negative rumination even after controlling for trait‐level rumination. Method We carried out a diary study with university students ( n = 178), where participants had to answer short surveys online about their daily affect and daily rumination every evening for 10 days. We analyzed our data with multilevel regression in R . Results Daily positive and negative affect were significantly associated with daily negative and positive rumination, while trait‐level rumination scores were not. Daily and trait‐level rumination were moderately correlated ( r = 0.333–0.440). Conclusions Our findings highlight that daily rumination plays a more significant role in daily emotional experiences than trait rumination across positive and negative valence domains. Daily negative affect appears to be more closely related to higher daily negative rumination than the lack of daily positive rumination, which could be relevant for intervention strategies.