ArticleBMC psychiatry2025
The relationship between social support and smartphone addiction: the mediating role of negative emotions and self-control.
Article in BMC psychiatry, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A systematic review of internet addiction in hospitalized adolescents: proposing a hospital-adapted moderated dual mediation model of emotional dysregulation and social compensation.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- You are doubly excluded: the interplay of cyberostracism and perceived parental phubbing in predicting problematic smartphone use.Addictive behaviors reports · 2026Article
- The influence of interpersonal competence on smartphone addiction: the moderating role of football participation.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Athletes' psychological strain, negative emotions, and suicidal ideation: a mixed methods study.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- The Impact of Upward Social Comparison on Smartphone Addiction Among Adolescents: The Moderating Role of Football Participation.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Smartphone And Internet Addiction, Social Support, And Mental Health Among Health Science Students: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach.Clinical neuropsychiatry · 2026Article
- Parenting styles and smartphone dependence among college students: the serial mediating roles of self-control and gratitude.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Adverse childhood experiences and cyber aggression among college students: the mediating role of psychological resilience and the moderating role of physical exercise.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Linking subjective well-being to short-video addiction among college students: the serial mediating roles of alienation and self-control.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Perceived stress and mobile phone addiction among Chinese undergraduate nursing students: the mediating role of organizational caring climate and self-control.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- The Level of Smartphone Addiction and Its Relationship to High Blood Pressure Among Middle-Aged and Elderly People in Rural Areas of China.Nature and science of sleep · 2026Article
- Prevalence and predictors of problematic smartphone use in a sample of Spanish undergraduate students.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Adolescent Smartphone Overdependence in South Korea: A Place-Stratified Evaluation of Conceptually Informed AI/ML Modeling.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- The impact of loneliness on alexithymia among Chinese adolescents: the mediating role of problematic smartphone use and the moderating effect of fear of negative evaluation.BMC public health · 2025Article
- The roles of loneliness and self-control in the association between social avoidance and nomophobia among college students.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The prevalence of smartphone addiction and its related risk factors among Palestinian high school students: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 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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6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundWith the rapid development of the internet, smartphones have become an indispensable part of our lives. However, prolonged, excessive and uncontrolled use may lead to the hidden danger of smartphone addiction, posing a threat to users' physical and mental health. Previous studies have shown that social support may be a factor in alleviating smartphone addiction. However, its specific mechanism needs further exploration. The purpose of this study is to examine the chain mediating effects of negative emotions and self-control on the relationship between social support and smartphone addiction.
methodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted from January 2022 to April 2023 in Sichuan Province, China, with 5,188 respondents aged 15 years or older. Spearman's correlation analysis was used to determine correlations between social support, negative emotions, self-control, and smartphone addiction. We construct a Structural Equation Model (SEM) to explore the pathways of smartphone addiction across different age groups.
resultsSocial support, negative emotions, self-control, and smartphone addiction were found to be significantly related (p < 0.01).In the population aged 15-44, a complete SEM pathway analysis was achieved, while for the population aged 45-64, a simplified version of the pathway analysis was obtained. Among the population aged 65 and above, multiple pathways were found to be nonsignificant. For the full sample, social support not only exhibited a negative correlation with smartphone addiction (β = -0.410; 95% CI: -0.534 to -0.320) but also influenced smartphone addiction through three specific pathways: via negative emotions (β = -0.041; 95% CI: -0.066 to -0.021), via self-control (β = -0.087; 95% CI: -0.119 to -0.063), and via a sequential effect of negative emotions and self-control (β = -0.047; 95% CI: -0.062 to -0.036). The 15-44 age group demonstrated similar pathways to the full sample, whereas the 45-64 age group lost the pathway mediated solely by negative emotions.
conclusionsOur study shows that high social support reduces smartphone addiction by diminishing negative emotions and improving self-control.The effect is more pronounced in the 15-44 age group.We suggest strengthening the social support system through more activities and urge relevant departments to improve the mental health education, enhance self-control training, and promote mental well-being to help avoid smartphone addiction.
trial registrationClinical trial number: not applicable.
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