Negative urgency is a tendency to engage in rash behaviors when experiencing negative emotions such as depression, anxiety, and stress, and is known to predict addictive behaviors. This study aimed to investigate the effect of negative urgency on smartphone addiction as one of behavioral addictions.

Self-report questionnaires were administered to 350 college (graduate) students to assess the level of depression, anxiety, stress, negative urgency, and smartphone addiction.

Regression and bootstrapping analyses showed that negative urgency partially mediated the relationships between each of depression, anxiety, and stress and smartphone addiction, even after controlling for age, sex, and average time spent on smartphone per day.

Negative emotions such as depression, anxiety, or stress affect smartphone addiction through negative urgency. This finding suggests that intervention for smartphone addiction should focus not only on negative emotions but also on reducing negative urgency. Further implications and limitations of this study are discussed.