2024 Volume 74 Issue 2 Pages 108-115
In recent years, personality and smartphone addiction have been shown to be factors influencing oral health behavior. However, no known studies examining details of the causal relationships of those factors with oral health behavior have been reported. The present article reports findings of a cross-sectional study conducted to examine the effects of smartphone addiction and personality traits on oral health behavior based on data obtained from a self-administered questionnaire. For oral health behaviors, data on daily toothbrushing frequency, toothbrushing habit before bedtime, daily snacking frequency, receipt of toothbrushing instructions at a dental clinic, and history of regular dental checkups were evaluated. The Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version (Japanese version) was used to assess smartphone addiction. For personality traits, the Japanese version of the Ten Item Personality Inventory was used and the Big Five personality dimensions (openness, agreeableness, extraversion, conscientiousness, neuroticism) were assessed. Statistical analysis was conducted using a Bayesian network, with causal relationships among the variables of sex, age, oral health behavior, smartphone addiction, and the Big Five being evaluated. The results indicate that personality traits, such as conscientiousness and neuroticism, together with smartphone addiction have influenced the increased snacking frequency as well as toothbrushing habit before bedtime.
