Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40819026›Full record

ArticleBMC public health2025

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.

Xiaowen Wu, Zihui Guo

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC public health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Xiaowen WuSchool of Journalism and Communication, Communication University of China, Nanjing, Nanjing City, 211172, Jiangsu, China. xiaowen16317@163.com.
Zihui GuoSchool of Journalism and Communication, Communication University of China, Nanjing, Nanjing City, 211172, Jiangsu, China.

Funding

The 2024 Industry-University Collaborative Education Program of the Ministry of Education of China Project No.: 230702201174427
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

This research investigates how loneliness influences alexithymia among Chinese adolescents, drawing on Internet Compensation Theory and the Social Compensation Hypothesis. The study highlights the mediating role of problematic smartphone use (PSU) and the moderating effect of fear of negative evaluation (FNE). Using a cross-sectional design, data were collected from 688 secondary school students via the online Questionnaire Star platform. The results indicate that loneliness is positively associated with both PSU and alexithymia. PSU partially mediates the relationship between loneliness and alexithymia (based on statistical models). Additionally, FNE plays a moderating role in the relationship between loneliness and PSU or alexithymia. Subgroup analysis revealed that male students reported significantly higher levels of alexithymia than females. Among individuals with higher levels of FNE, the positive correlation between loneliness and alexithymia was significantly stronger. This study proposes a mechanism involving internal emotion (loneliness), external behavior (PSU), and cognitive evaluation (FNE), offering a systematic theoretical basis for adolescent mental health interventions.

Indexed as

Affective SymptomsFearLonelinessSmartphoneAdolescentChinaCross-Sectional StudiesEast Asian PeopleFemaleHumansInternet Addiction DisorderMaleStudentsSurveys and QuestionnairesAdolescentsAlexithymiaFear of negative evaluationLonelinessProblematic smartphone use

Identifiers

PMID40819026
PMCPMC12357343

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.