Introduction
Smartphones are among the cost-effective devices that are widely used by people around the world. In 2021, approximately 3.8 billion people (about half of the world's population) were using smartphones. It is predicted that this number will surpass 4.5 billion by 2024, considering the prevalence of COVID-19. Smartphones play a fundamental role in maintaining or strengthening social relationships. However, their excessive use can ruin relationships and create conflicts among couples. These conflicts are mainly because of ignoring partner by choosing to prioritize phone usage, which is known as “phubbing”. This means that couples are physically present but do not pay complete attention to each other due to phone usage. Nowadays, phubbing behavior can occur in almost any social setting or interpersonal relationship. Phubbing among students can lead to a decline in the quality of friendships, low academic progress, concentration difficulties, lack of social relationships, and postponing tasks. 
Few studies have been conducted on phubbing behaviors. No research has been conducted in Iran in the field of phubbing and its effective factors among students. Furthermore, the mediating role of smartphone addiction in the relationship between insecure attachment styles and phubbing has not been examined so far. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the mediating role of smartphone addiction in the relationship between insecure attachment styles and phubbing among Iranian college college students.

Methods
This is a descriptive-correlational study using a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach. The study population includes all students from universities in Tehran, Iran. Of these, 615 students (334 females and 281 males) with a mean age of 26.89±6.4 years were selected using a convenience sampling method. The data collection tools were (a) Attachment Styles Questionnaire of Hazan and Shaver (1987) with 15 items and three subscales of secure (5 items), avoidant (5 items), and anxious (5 items), (b) Mobile Phone Addiction Questionnaire of Sevari (2014) with 13 items and three subscales of creativity loss (7 items), tendency (3 items), and loneliness (3 items); and (c) The generic scale of being phubbed developed by Chotpitayasunondh et al. in 2018 with 15 items and following subscales: Nomophobia (4 items), interpersonal conflict (4 items), self-isolation (4 items), and problem acknowledgement (3 items). 
Descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, frequency, and percentage were used to present the data. Then, inferential statistics were employed to test the research hypotheses. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to test the measurement model for each variable. Then, the SEM method was employed to examine the model fit and test the research hypotheses. Data analysis was performed in SPSS software, version 27 and AMOS software, version 24.

Results
The values of fit indices are shown in Table 1.


The results showed that the direct effect of insecure attachment styles (avoidant and anxious) on smartphone addiction was positive and significant (P=0.001, β=0.5); as insecure attachment increases, the smartphone addiction increases. The direct effect of smartphone addiction on phubbing was also positive and significant (P=0.001, β=0.73); as smartphone addiction increases, phubbing increases. The results also showed the positive and significant direct effect of insecure attachment styles on phubbing (P=0.012, β=0.16); with the increase of insecure attachment can predict phubbing, the level of phubbing increases.
The insecure attachment styles had significant indirect effect on phubbing through smartphone addiction (P=0.005, β=0.366). These results suggest that in students with avoidant and anxious attachment styles, the smartphone addiction level is higher. Figure 1 shows  the SEM model with standardized coefficients. Sobel test was used to confirm the mediating effect of smartphone addiction. Considering that the value of Sobel statistic was 2.91 and this value was greater than 1.96, the mediation role of smartphone addiction in the relationship between insecure attachment styles and phubbing in students was confirmed. 

Conclusion
The results of this study indicated higher levels of phubbing in students with avoidant and anxious attachment styles. Smartphone addiction played a mediating role in the relationship between insecure attachment styles and phubbing. The results of this study can help identify the factors affecting phubbing behaviors among college students in Iran.  Interventional programs should be used for reducing insecure attachment styles and smartphone addiction among students to reduce their phubbing behaviors. Moreover, it is recommended that future studies investigate the relationship between these variables using a longitudinal design. Given the impact of phubbing behavior on the quality of marital relationships, investigating this relationship among couples is also recommended. This study was conducted on the general population. A similar study can be conducted on clinical populations


Ethical Considerations
Compliance with ethical guidelines
All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Research Ethics Committees of Shahid Beheshti University (Code: IR.SBU.REC.1402.150).

Funding
This article was extracted from the master’s thesis of Mohammad Mahdi Akbarzadeh, at the Department of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran. This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Authors contributions
Writing: Mohammad Mahdi Akbarzadeh; Supervision, review & editing: Saeed Imani; advising: Shahriar Shahidi; final approval: All authors.

Conflicts of interest
The authors declared no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank all participants for their cooperation in this study.


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