ArticleFrontiers in public health2023
The reciprocal relationships between meaning in life and smartphone addiction among Chinese college students: evidence from a three-wave cross-lagged panel model.
Article in Frontiers in public health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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5 citing papers in PubMed, 9 citations in OpenAlex.
- Daily Bidirectional Associations Between Problematic Smartphone Use and Meaning in Life: A 14-Day Diary Study.Psychology research and behavior management · 2026Article
- The influence of meaning in life on smartphone addiction among nursing undergraduates: the mediating roles of professional identity and achievement motivation.BMC nursing · 2025Article
- The relationship between problematic mobile phone use and meaning in life among adolescents: a latent profile analyses.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- Unmet psychological needs underlying mobile phone dependence among medical undergraduates: a qualitative study based on the basic psychological needs theory.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- The relationship between social support and smartphone addiction among Chinese college students: the mediating role of loneliness and the moderating role of meaning in life.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
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Abstract
Background: Previous cross-sectional studies have shown that meaning in life (MIL) is closely associated with college students' smartphone addiction (SA), but the causal relationship between MIL and college students' SA is uncertain. Therefore, conducting a longitudinal study to explore their relationship is very necessary. Furthermore, some studies have implied possible gender differences in the relationship between MIL and SA and the relationship between SA and MIL. Therefore, it is necessary to further examine whether there are gender differences in the above relationships. Methods: The present study constructed a three-wave cross-lag panel model to explore the relationships between MIL and college students' SA. Three waves of data were collected from 705 college students (male: 338; female: 367) in China for three consecutive years, and the interval of data collection was 1 year. These college students completed the same online questionnaire regarding MIL and SA. Results: (1) The MIL of male college students was significantly stronger than that of female college students at time 1, time 2, and time 3, (2) Female college students' SA at time 1, time 2, and time 3 was more serious than that of male college students, (3) There were reciprocal relationships between MIL and college students' SA, (4) The influence of MIL on female college students' SA was significantly stronger than that of male college students, and (5) The influence of SA on female college students' MIL was significantly stronger than that of male college students. Conclusion: This study showed reciprocal relationships between MIL and SA among male college students and female college students. The findings further deepen our understanding of the relationship between MIL and SA and provide a gender perspective for preventing or intervening with college students' SA.
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