Preference for Solitude and Mobile Phone Addiction Among Chinese College Students: The Mediating Role of Psychological Distress and Moderating Role of Mindfulness

Background: With the increasing incidence of mobile phone addiction, the potential risk factors of mobile phone addiction have attracted more and more researchers’ attention. Although various personality trait factors have been proven to be significant predictors of mobile phone addiction, limited attention has been paid to preference for solitude. Considering the adverse impacts of preference for solitude in the context of collectivistic societies and its possible negative effect on mobile phone addiction, this study was designed to examine the relationship between preference for solitude and mobile phone addiction, and to test the mediating role of psychological distress and the moderating role of mindfulness in this relationship.Methods: Data were collected through convenience sampling from a comprehensive university in China. A total of 927 Chinese college students (371 males and 556 females), aged from 16 to 24 (Mage = 19.89 years, SD = 1.22), participated in this study. Their preference for solitude, psychological distress, mindfulness, and mobile phone addiction were measured using well-validated self-report questionnaires.Results: Correlational analyses, sobel test, SPSS macro PROCESS (Model 8) and simple slopes analyses were used for major data analysis. Results showed that preference for solitude was significantly and positively associated with mobile phone addiction, and this link could be mediated by psychological distress. Moreover, the indirect effect of psychological distress in this link was moderated by mindfulness, with this effect being stronger for college students with lower levels of mindfulness. However, mindfulness can not moderate the direct relation between preference for solitude and mobile phone addiction.Conclusion: The present study broadened our knowledge of how and when (or for whom) preference for solitude is related to mobile phone addiction. Education professionals and parents should pay special attention to the psychological distress and mobile phone addiction of college students with high levels of preference for solitude, particularly for those with lower levels of mindfulness.

Mobile phone addiction among children aged 5-12 years, a hospital-based study in South Kerala

Background: The uncontrolled, inappropriate or excessive use of the mobile phone can give rise to social, behavioural and affective problems. Mobile phone addiction has emerged as a challenging public health issue. The aim of the study was to find out the proportion and associated factors of mobile phone addiction among children aged 5-12 years.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 222 children in the age group of 5-12 years. Data collection was done using a semi-structured questionnaire and outcome variable measured using the diagnostic criteria developed by Lin et al. Chi-square test and binary logistic regression was done to find out the association between exposure and outcome variables.Results: 42.3% of children aged 5-12 years had mobile phone addiction. Factors like higher socio-economic status of the family, educated father, children with normal weight for age, presence of visual problems, headache, poor concentration and disturbed sleep were found to have statistically significant association with the mobile phone addiction. The predictor variables found on regression were higher socio-economic status, children with normal weight for age, disturbed sleep and poor concentration.Conclusions: This study found nearly half of the children belonging to 5-12 years was addicted to mobile phones which is higher than expected and is a serious matter for the growing children. The risk factors found in the study are modifiable to an extent and hence regional and national level strategies has to be implemented in accordance with the available studies to tackle this public health problem.

Mobile Phone Addiction and Academic Procrastination Negatively Impact Academic Achievement Among Chinese Medical Students

The problem of mobile phone addiction and academic procrastination among medical students has been widely acknowledged. This study aimed to explore the influence of demographic factors on mobile phone addiction, academic procrastination, and academic achievement among medical students. Further, it investigated the association between mobile phone addiction, academic procrastination, and academic achievement. This cross-sectional study was conducted between May and June 2019. A total of 3 511 medical students participated in an online questionnaire survey (effective response rate = 81.7%). Demographic factors, the Scale of Academic Achievement, the short scale of the Mobile Phone Problem Use (MPPUS-10), and the Academic Procrastination Scale–Short (APS-S) were used. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that the average scores for academic procrastination, mobile phone addiction, and academic achievement were 2.66 ± 0.91, 5.13 ± 1.53, and 4.51 ± 0.71, respectively. Moreover, there were significant differences in gender, grade, leadership experience, and family monthly income across mobile phone addiction, academic procrastination, and academic achievement. Mobile phone addiction was negatively associated with learning dedication, learning performance, and relationship facilitation. Academic procrastination was negatively associated with learning dedication, learning performance, relationship facilitation, and objective achievement. Mobile phone addiction and academic procrastination was revealed as prevalent among Chinese medical students, and negatively influences their academic achievement. It is critical to establish a more efficient learning environment for Chinese medical students to minimize the negative impact of mobile phone addiction and academic procrastination.

The correlation between mobile phone addiction and coping style among Chinese adolescents: a meta-analysis

Background Mobile phone addiction has become a social problem that affects the healthy growth of adolescents, and it may be correlated with coping style. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between mobile phone addiction and coping style and the influencing factors for adolescents. Methods A meta-analysis was conducted by searching China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), WANFANG DATA and Chongqing VIP Information Co., Ltd. (VIP), PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and PsycINFO. Stata 16.0 was used to analyse the overall effect and test the moderating effect. Results Thirty-three studies were included, involving a total of 20,349 subjects. There was no significant correlation between adolescents’ mobile phone addiction and positive coping style (r = − 0.02, 95% CI = − 0.06 to 0.02, P > 0.05), but there was a moderate positive correlation between adolescents’ mobile phone addiction and negative coping style (r = 0.31, 95% CI = 0.26 to 0.36, P < 0.001). The moderating effect analysis showed that the effect of dissertations on mobile phone addiction and positive coping style among adolescents was significantly larger than that of journal articles. The Smartphone Addiction Scale for College Students (SAS-C) showed the largest effect on mobile phone addiction and positive coping style among adolescents. The time of publication significantly positively moderated the relationship between mobile phone addiction and negative coping style among adolescents. The Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire (SCSQ) showed the largest effect on adolescents’ mobile phone addiction and negative coping style. However, the correlation between adolescents’ mobile phone addiction and coping style was not affected by age or gender. Conclusions There was a close relationship between mobile phone addiction and coping style among adolescents. In the future, longitudinal research should be carried out to better investigate the dynamic changes in the relationship between mobile phone addiction and coping style.