The Influence of Smartphone Addiction, Personality Traits, Achievement Motivation on Problem-solving Ability of University Students

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze the relations between smartphone addiction, personality traits, achievement motivation and problem-solving ability and explore the influence of smartphone addiction, personality traits, achievement motivation on university students' problem-solving ability. 682 students (male = 227, female = 455) from a Chinese public university participated in the research voluntarily. Data were collected by the short-version of the smartphone addiction scale, the ten-item personality inventory, the achievement motives scale, and the social problem-solving inventory. The correlations and multiple hierarchical regression analysis were used to analyze the data. The results were as follows: Firstly, it was found that there was a significant negative correlation between smartphone addiction and achievement motivation and problem-solving ability, a significant positive correlation between achievement motivation and problem-solving ability, and a significant correlation between the factors of personality traits and smartphone addiction and problem-solving ability respectively. Secondly, it was found that emotional stability of personality traits, smartphone addiction and the "fear of failure" sub-dimensions of achievement motivation significantly explained problem-solving ability. Based on these research results, some suggestions were given for the improvement of the educational field.