ArticleBMC public health2026
Physical exercise and problematic smartphone use among adolescents in Western China: a multi-center cross-sectional study on the serial mediation of self-control and meaning in life.
Article in BMC public health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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.
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.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveProblematic smartphone use has become a prominent public health issue in the information era. Although research has shown that exercise is beneficial in alleviating problematic smartphone use among adolescents, the specific underlying mechanisms have not been fully elucidated. This study aims to explore the internal mechanisms between self-control and the meaning in life in adolescents' problematic smartphone use (PSU) through physical exercise.
methodsA multi-center, large-sample cross-sectional study was conducted among students from 34 primary and secondary schools in western China. Assessments were conducted using the Physical Activity Rating Scale (PARS-3), the Brief Self-Control Scale (BSCS), Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ), and the Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version (SAS-SV). Data were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test, correlation analysis, and mediation analysis based on structural equation modeling.
resultsA total of 8,245 participants were included. The rates of PSU in males and females were found to be 23.97% and 19.47%, respectively. After adjusting for relevant demographic covariates, structural equation modeling analysis indicated that exercise was negatively associated with PSU (β = -0.056, p < 0.001). Both self-control (β = -0.034, p < 0.001) and meaning in life (β = -0.019, p < 0.001) played potential partial mediating roles in the relationship between physical exercise and PSU. Furthermore, self-control and meaning in life served as potential partial chain mediators between physical exercise and adolescent PSU (β = -0.011, p < 0.001), accounting for 9.17% of the total association.
conclusionMaintaining regular physical exercise can enhance adolescents' self-control ability and meaning in life thereby helping to prevent or alleviate PSU behaviors.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.