Rumination has consistently been found to predict excessive smartphone use. However, a paucity of research has examined the mechanism that underlies this relation. Drawing on relevant theoretical accounts, we examined whether specific coping functions that can be fulfilled through smartphones—i.e., mental disengagement, problem-focused, and socioemotional coping—mediate, in parallel, the positive link between rumination and smartphone use. Using latent growth curve and structural equation modeling (N = 217), we found that only mental disengagement fully mediated the link between rumination and the intercept (i.e., initial baseline levels) of smartphone use, which was objectively quantified using screen time monitoring applications installed on smartphones. In addition, although rumination directly predicted the slope (i.e., longitudinal changes) of smartphone use, the indirect effects of rumination on the slope via the three coping functions did not reach significance. Our findings highlight the importance of a specific coping function—i.e., mental disengagement—via smartphones in explaining the complex relation between rumination and smartphone overuse. Further, our study underscores several methodological advances in studying smartphone use.

不断发现反刍可以预测智能手机的过度使用。但是，很少有研究检查了这种关系基础的机制。基于相关的理论解释，我们研究了智能手机可以实现的特定应对功能（即精神上的脱离接触，关注问题和社会情感的应对）是否同时介导了反省和智能手机使用之间的积极联系。使用潜在增长曲线和结构方程建模（N = 217），我们发现只有精神上的脱离才能完全介导反省和智能手机使用的拦截（即初始基准水平）之间的联系，这是使用安装在智能手机上的屏幕时间监控应用程序客观地量化的。此外，尽管反刍作用直接预测了智能手机使用的坡度（即纵向变化），但是通过三种应对功能，反刍作用对坡度的间接影响并未达到显着性。我们的发现凸显了通过智能手机实现特定应对功能（即精神脱离）的重要性，以解释反省和智能手机过度使用之间的复杂关系。此外，我们的研究强调了在研究智能手机使用方面的几种方法学进展。