INTRODUCTION

As we enter the 21st century, psychological research has been fruitful in finding links between subjective experience and psychological functioning as response variables in the face of increasingly diverse technological stimuli. This development has been evidenced at a conceptual and empirical level in issues such as video game addiction, cyberbullying and the impact of the Internet on individuals and society. With this scenario as a background, the study of the specific uses adopted by technology users in relation to different constructs of interest for Psychology has become more relevant. Currently, social participation in virtual networks and the ubiquitous use of mobile devices constitute a research topic in full development, with multiple gaps in both the psychological variables with which they are associated, as well as the specific networks in which users sign up.

Emotional regulation, broadly understood as a modulating process of psychophysiological reactions (^{Gómez & Calleja, 2016}) plays a role of capital importance in the configuration of mental health (^{Caqueo-Urízar et al., 2020}), constituting a valuable resource for psychotherapeutic practice. This process is mediated by cognitions, and by the revaluation that people make about their context, whose emotional expression would ultimately be the trigger for behavior (^{Godínez & Flores, 2019}). Adequate emotional regulation favors the positive processing of experiences, contributing to the ability to cope with stressful events, tolerate frustration, resolve conflicts, improve interpersonal relationships and increase well-being and happiness (^{Wills et al., 2016}).

Conversely, an emotionally dysregulated system is often associated with psychological dysfunctions of various kinds, as well as with the manifestation of disruptive behaviors, especially in young population (^{Caqueo-Urízar et al., 2020}). Under this perspective, emotional dysregulation represents a poor management of emotions that has a negative impact on personal and social functioning with clear implications for the development and progression of psychopathologies. The predictive role of emotional dysregulation on mental health indicators has been strongly supported by scientific evidence, which has justified its consideration as a cross-cutting factor in psychological diagnoses (^{Cludius et al., 2020}).

In young people and adolescents, emotional dysregulation has been observed to predict multiple behavioral manifestations of impulsivity (^{Miller & Racine, 2022}), highlighting its link with drug dependence (^{Kober, 2014}), sexual risk behaviors (^{Kuo et al., 2014}), eating disorders (^{Monell et al., 2015}; ^{Monell et al., 2018}; ^{Racine & Horvath, 2018}) and self-injury (^{Gratz & Roemer, 2008}; ^{Shafti et al., 2021}). Applied research, however, has shown that therapies and programs that strengthen emotional regulation skills are effective in reducing such manifestations (^{Berking et al., 2008}; ^{Houck et al., 2018}).

More broadly, emotional regulation can be interpreted as an indicator of emotional intelligence, being associated with a set of skills that facilitate the control and expression of emotions (^{Santoya et al., 2018}). Currently, the conceptualization of emotional regulation points to a multidimensional and integrative vision, under which multiple dimensions underlie, as identified in the various measurement instruments that have been created in its name (^{Guzmán-González et al., 2020}).

According to ^{Gratz and Roemer's (2004}) model, emotional regulation involves an awareness and understanding of emotions, their acceptance, the ability to control behavioral impulses and the ability to apply strategies according to each situation. The authors add that the absence of these elements, whether partial or total, would constitute indicators of emotional dysregulation. The psychometric expression of this model is translated into five factors, whose validity and reliability has been satisfactorily tested in different populations (^{Cancian et al., 2019}; ^{Guzmán-González et al., 2014}; ^{Marín et al., 2012}). Emotional dyscontrol refers to the difficulty in controlling impulses and a limited repertoire of regulation strategies. People with difficulties in this area convince themselves of the impossibility of carrying out actions to regulate their emotions and are unable to maintain control of their own behavior when experiencing negative emotions. Emotional Confusion refers to the lack of clarity that the person experiences in relation to their emotions. People with difficulties in this area find it difficult to identify and understand their emotions. Emotional Inattention corresponds to a lack of awareness and inattention to emotional responses. A typical case of difficulty in this area consists in downplaying one's own emotions and feelings. Emotional Interference refers to the difficulty to engage in behaviors oriented to the achievement of certain goals or activities. This condition implies lack of concentration and difficulties to perform tasks when experiencing negative emotions. Finally, Emotional Rejection corresponds to a tendency to present negative emotional responses towards oneself, presenting feelings of shame, guilt and self-loathing.

The literature also shows the role that emotional regulation plays in specific stages of life and in populations exposed to greater stress conditions. In this regard, the university population constitutes a group of special interest, since the transition and permanence in higher education is in itself a demanding process (^{Castillo et al., 2021}), which is usually accompanied by relevant changes and milestones that may alter the sense of stability and identity, so that the negative perception of being located in a transitional phase between adolescence and adulthood prevails (^{Barrera & Vinet, 2017}). Although this group seeks to achieve greater levels of autonomy and participation, they remain emotionally and financially dependent on their families. The responsibilities of adulthood generate greater uncertainty in decision making and in the development of their life projects, postponing significant milestones such as leaving home, marriage and parenthood.

In addition to the above, the university constitutes a scenario where students deploy their competencies and skills to achieve their academic objectives, and where they must adapt to the pressure of the environment and face new responsibilities (^{Juárez & Silva, 2019}). All these changes can be a source of emotional instability, especially when negative perceptions are added, such as helplessness to cope with the academic load and uncertainty about permanence in the institution (^{Duche et al., 2020}). Consequently, it is not surprising that in the university population there is a high prevalence of mental disorders, as illustrated by multiple studies (^{Baader et al., 2014}). In Chile, it has been estimated that more than 40% of university students present symptoms of stress, depression and anxiety (^{Barrera et al., 2019}).

Although emotional regulation has been extensively studied by psychology (^{Caqueo-Urízar et al., 2020}), its link with the impact of digital technologies on people's lives has been scarcely addressed. The accelerated transformation of social life due to technological changes implies a necessary update of the frameworks of analysis for psychological science. The gaps in knowledge form a minefield for studies that relate psychological constructs to facets of the technological realm, whose speed of change far exceeds the pace of reading that social researchers can provide (^{Castillo, 2021}). This dynamism can be well exemplified by the use of virtual platforms and participation in social networking communities, which are both a cause and a consequence of the new trends permeating among young users. In this regard, although there have been studies that analyze dependence on mobile devices, there is still little information about the specificity of these uses in terms of users' emotional regulation (^{Amendola et al., 2019}; ^{Gioia et al., 2021}).

Most studies have focused on the addictive use of Facebook (^{Gracia et al., 2020}), a platform that has been the leader in attracting users worldwide but is gradually being displaced by other networks such as Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat (^{Giraldo & Fernández, 2020}). Few studies have pointed out the link between emotional difficulties and nomophobia, understood as the dependence associated with the compulsive use of mobile devices (^{Catone et al., 2020}; ^{Celik & Atila, 2018}; ^{Enez, 2021}). In addition, most of the studies come from the North American and European context (^{Ercengiz et al., 2020}; ^{Santl et al., 2022}; ^{Valenti et al., 2022}).

Nomophobia would be characterized by the presence of anxiety, discomfort and stress when access to a mobile device and the functionalities it provides, mainly the internet, are not freely available (^{King et al., 2013}). According to ^{Gonçalves et al. (2020}) the use of mobile devices can interfere with several aspects of daily life and trigger pathological dependence, affecting health and well-being. Evidence highlights the link between nomophobia and psychosocial conditions such as obsession, hostility, somatization, anxiety, psychoticism and depression (^{Gonçalves et al., 2020}). It has recently been hypothesized that those with nomophobia present greater psychological problems due to deficient or maladaptive emotional regulation strategies (^{Santl et al., 2022}). Although nomophobia is not officially recognized as a psychological disorder in clinical manuals, it is evident that it has characteristics in common with behavioral addictions, so correlations similar to those found between other addictions and emotional dysregulation could be expected.

Considering that the excessive use of mobile devices is largely driven by participation in social networking platforms, we are interested in knowing the relationship and magnitude between emotional regulation and nomophobia, specifically in active Instagram users. This social network is one of the most used by the university population, however, it is also one of those that can cause the most negative impacts on its users. The use of Instagram can enhance anxiety and depression, alter sleep hours, distort body self-image, and increase the need to stay connected so as not to miss out on social events that happen on the network (^{Royal Society for Public Health , 2017}).

By virtue of the above, this research aims to provide relevant knowledge that highlights the impact of technologies on the socioemotional configuration of the university population. The objective has been to establish the correlation between the dimensions of emotional dysregulation with the levels of nomophobia, Instagram addiction and account activity parameters in users of that platform. In addition, differential effects based on gender and the affective-sexual situation of the users are also considered. The socialization of the findings may be an input for decision making and for the planning of intervention programs.

METHOD

RESULTS

Table 1 Parameters of Instagram account activity according to Gender, Sex-Affective Relationship and Nomophobia level. 

Note. * = p < .05; ** = p < .01; F (feminine); M (masculine); SR (without relationship); CR (with relationship).

Source. Elaborated by the author.

Table 1 presents the characterization of Instagram account activity parameters in university students, also presents comparisons according to gender, sex-affective relationship and nomophobia level. At a general level, it is observed that participants set up their accounts mainly as private (71.6%) and upload content in stories on a daily basis (39.4%), followed by once or several times a week (32.6%). Participating users have a median of 31.5 posts in their feed, 860 followers and 770 followings. The median followers/following ratio was .92 and only 39% of participants have more followers than followings. Gender differences were shown in the comparison of the frequency with which stories are shared and the number of followers, observing that the female group publishes stories more frequently and follows more Instagram users. There were no differences in any of the parameters of the account for the groups with and without a sex-affective relationship. Finally, in relation to the level of nomophobia, significant differences were found both in the frequency of publication of stories and in the parameters of number of followers, followings and followers/following ratio. In all cases, it is evident that high level of nomophobia is linked to the great amount of time spent on Instagram.

Table 2 Mean differences according to Gender, Sex-affective Relationship and Nomophobia level for DERS-E and Instagram Addiction scales 

Note. * = p < .05; ** = p < .01. Gender: F (feminine); M (masculine). Sex-affective relationship: SR (without relationship); CR (with relationship). Nomophobia: B (low); M (medium); A (high).

Source. Elaborated by the author.

Table 2 shows that when comparing Emotional Dysregulation based on gender, there are no significant differences, except in the dimension of Emotional Dyscontrol, where the female group scores slightly higher than the male group . Finally, when comparing Emotional Dysregulation as a function of nomophobia levels, significant differences were found, which were expressed both in the overall scores as well as in the dimensions of Emotional Rejection, Emotional Dyscontrol, Emotional Interference, Emotional Inattention and Emotional Confusion. In all cases it was observed that the Low Nomophobia level group had significantly lower scores compared to those found for the Medium and High Nomophobia level groups. However, post-hoc contrasts showed that there were no significant differences when comparing the Medium and High Nomophobia level groups in the dimensions of Emotional Rejection (p = .11), Emotional Dyscontrol (p = .06), Emotional Interference (p = 1.00) and Emotional Inattention (p = .16).

Table 3 Spearman correlation matrix between DERS-E, Nomophobia, Instagram Addiction scales and Instagram account activity parameters 

Note. *= p < .05; ** = p < .01; ***= p < .001

Source. Elaborated by the author.

Table 3 presents the Spearman correlation matrix between the scores of the emotional dysregulation scale, Nomophobia, Instagram addiction and the amounts of followers, followings and posts. Beyond the expected correlations between the dimensions of the emotional dysregulation scale, there is evidence of a significant link between them and the Nomophobia score. In order of magnitude, the most relevant correlation was between Nomophobia and Emotional Confusion. In addition, there were positive and statistically significant correlations between Nomophobia and the other facets of emotional dysregulation, such as inattention, dyscontrol, rejection and interference. In line with the above, all dimensions of emotional dysregulation also presented direct correlations with Instagram addiction scores, where again the emotional confusion factor presented the highest magnitude. Other significant correlations were present between Instagram addiction and inattention, dyscontrol, rejection, and interference. While each dimension of emotional dysregulation had significant links with Nomophobia and Instagram addiction scores, there were no correlations with the number of followings within the platform nor with the number of posts. In addition, low magnitude correlations were found between the dimensions of emotional dysregulation and the number of followers, except for the dimension of interference. Particularly, it was observed that a higher number of followers on Instagram is found to be associated with higher scores on emotional confusion, rejected, inattention and dyscontrol.

DISCUSSION

The university population is one of the main targets for social media platforms. It has been observed that this group tends to spend a significant amount of time browsing and consuming content on these platforms. Specifically, Instagram has achieved a strong acceptance among university users, progressively displacing in popularity others such as Facebook and Twitter, however, it is also one of the most affecting platforms in psychosocial terms. Beyond the functionality to preserve and build social ties, facilitating a digital meeting space between users, it is also a breeding ground for a number of risks that threaten mental health and cognitive-emotional well-being. Considering the above, it should be noted that, although technology is apparently innocuous among its users, there are benefits and risks, which depend on the way it is used. Spending a lot of time in front of a social network would mean neglecting other aspects of daily life, facilitating procrastination, altering the sense of co-presence in interpersonal relationships, decreasing academic or work performance due to a redistribution of time once assigned to the family, friendships, bonding, self-care and personal development. Moreover, regardless of the hours of consumption on the platforms, the content that is viewed and the form and intention with which these platforms are used have the potential to undermine the emotional regulation of users, promoting toxic experiences of digital absorption. In this regard, it is necessary to distinguish when the use of social networks is maladaptive. It is not the same to use social networks as work platforms, as learning devices, as a means to preserve social ties, as to use them to stalk or become obsessed with the activities of another user on the network, to evade the problems of daily life, to become absorbed in accounts that promote discouragement and a pessimistic view of the world and the self, altering perceptions of self-image and sowing a sense of failure in the face of the excessive eagerness for success and idealization of their peers. Indeed, some users conceive some parameters of social networks as a barometer to measure their self-esteem and influence in their community. Thus, the number of likes, replies and reactions to comments, as well as the number of followers and the number of views of their stories would be assumed as satisfiers of attention needs, which is why failure to meet these expectations would affect self-perceptions if they were not adequate emotional regulation.

Consequently, emotional dysregulation is hypothetically presented as a cause and consequence of nomophobia and social network addiction. This statement is supported by the high correlations found between each of the dimensions of emotional dysregulation, especially the emotional confusion factor, and the scores obtained on the nomophobia and Instagram addiction scales. Thus, users who express greater dependence on their mobile devices are precisely those who have higher Instagram addiction scores and at the same time are those who score higher on all dimensions of emotional dysregulation. It is likely that difficulties in modulating emotions impact the ability to inhibit impulsive behaviors, which, for the purposes of mobile device dependence, would result in over-checking social network accounts and misuse in contexts that violate expectations of etiquette and good manners. However, the effect of emotional dysregulation on nomophobia and addiction to Instagram is fed back by the conditions that these platforms set on users, which would lead to a vicious circle between dysregulation, nomophobia and addiction.

The Instagram platform has a conglomerate of stimuli that enhance psychological dependence and eventual addiction among its users. Likes, reactions and replies provide real-time feedback, generating gratification similar to that of drug use and gambling, activating the same brain circuits (^{Turel et al., 2018}). Furthermore, the algorithmic tools employed by META are not only capable of predicting online behavior, but also of making it more attractive to the user, maximizing their engagement and time on the network. Nevertheless, the discussion around considering nomophobia and social network addiction as behavioral disorders remains open (^{Wilcockson et al., 2019}). Regardless of the above, the indiscriminate use of mobile devices and the sense of dependence derived from them has become an increasingly frequent cause of psychological consultation (^{Jiménez-Murcia and Farré-Martí, 2015}) and, Therefore, it is not trivial to analyze the relationships that nomophobia may have with mental health indicators, as illustrated in the case of emotional dysregulation.

The results found in our study allow us to corroborate the hypotheses raised around the bidirectional links between emotional dysregulation, nomophobia, Instagram addiction, but not our assumptions regarding the differences of these variables based on gender and sex-affective relationship. The differences found in the levels of emotional dysregulation as a function of nomophobia levels are in line with the emerging repository of studies that relate dependence on mobile devices to multiple variables of psychosocial functioning (^{Santl et al., 2022}; ^{Valenti et al., 2022}; ^{Ercengiz et al., 2020}; ^{Yavuz et al., 2019}). Likewise, if Instagram addiction is considered one of the main motivators of nomophobia, it was expected that it would also present significant links with emotional dysregulation. However, because the correlations between Instagram addiction and multiple dimensions of emotional dysregulation were in all cases higher than the correlations between nomophobia and emotional dysregulation, it is possible to conclude that this platform would affect mental health more than the simple use of mobile devices; this situation is consistent with the ^{Royal Society for Public Health (2017}) report, which lists Instagram as the most harmful social network for the well-being and mental health of young people. Since no significant differences were found based on gender, it can be assumed that dependence on social networks is transversal, an aspect that would be facilitated by greater accessibility to smartphone devices with Internet connection. These results are also consistent with previous research (^{Valenti et al., 2022}; ^{Humood et al., 2021}; ^{Argumosa-Villar et al., 2017}). Notwithstanding the above, the sex-affective relationship does constitute a differentiating characteristic of Instagram addiction scores, showing in single people a tendency to present a greater dependence and participation in digital platforms.

For the Psychological Sciences, it is imperative to integrate knowledge about the excessive use of mobile devices and to propose strategies to reduce their impact on the psychosocial development and adaptive functioning of users. Although the articulation of therapeutic programs that directly address problems such as nomophobia is still in its infancy, some studies have already shown some signs of the effectiveness of strategies based on digital detoxification (^{Radtke et al., 2021}; ^{Schmuck, 2020}). Our research, in turn, has allowed us to establish the basis for the development of a line of research that integrates the maladaptive facets induced by digitalization and the emotional resources of the university population, a situation that sheds light on the role that emotional regulation plays in the psychotherapeutic processes of problems interfered with by technologies. Since our results are far from conclusive because of the limitations of the study design and the reduced set of variables measured, it is proposed that future research may contribute to the study of these relationships from both a pure and applied perspective. Applied studies can assess the impacts of self-control in the use of mobile devices in the short, medium, and long term on well-being and mental health variables, as well as test different intervention strategies to achieve awareness in users and reduce their levels of dependence on networks. Moreover, pure research can contribute to generate a better understanding of the role played by emotional regulation within the circuit of relationships between the uses of ICTs and mental health. Future studies with larger numbers of participants can test mediating, moderating, and moderately mediation models to clarify these relational circuits.

In conclusion, this study showed strong correlations between nomophobia, Instagram addiction and emotional dysregulation in university students, constituting one of the few studies that addresses these variables simultaneously in a Latin American population. It is established that there is a high shared variability between nomophobia and Instagram addiction, which would imply that this platform could be one of the main causes of the maladaptive use of mobile devices, especially in the university population, which participates in this social network on a comparatively higher level than other groups. The consequences of this not only have an impact on the conditions to successfully face university, for example, by neglecting studies, increasing procrastination and introducing stimuli that constantly interfere with the teaching-learning process, but also affect mental health, to the extent that it contributes to the dysregulation of emotions, which is one of the main factors that trigger dysfunctional behavior and psychopathologies. Under this understanding, the use of social network platforms should be cautious based on awareness and self-regulation strategies by users, otherwise, our results warn that the unrestricted use of these social technologies could take its toll on