“…By pinpointing specific pathways that link the Big Five personality traits to PSU, our results support prior theoretical assumptions on mechanisms underlying PSU. Specifically, it has been proposed that the excessive reassurance pathway linking Neuroticism and PSU is relevant to negative reinforcement i.e., individuals engage in smartphone use as a coping strategy to address negative emotions ( Elhai et al., 2017 ; Pivetta et al., 2019 ), a well-documented mechanism underlying addictive behaviours ( Baker, Piper, McCarthy, Majeskie, & Fiore, 2004 ; Liu et al., 2021 ; Liu, Rotaru, Chamberlain, Ren, et al., 2022 ; Liu, Rotaru, Chamberlain, Yücel, et al., 2022 ). In line with this view, numerous studies reported positive associations between Neuroticism and overall PSU ( Gao et al., 2020 ; Marengo et al., 2020 ).…”