ArticleFrontiers in psychology2026
Loneliness and problematic use of conversational artificial intelligence among college students: the serial mediating roles of social anxiety and self-control.
Article in Frontiers in psychology, 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
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objectives: Loneliness is an important public health concern associated with individuals' physical and mental wellbeing. As conversational artificial intelligence (CAI) becomes more widely used, concerns about its problematic use have attracted increasing attention. However, the link between loneliness and problematic use of conversational artificial intelligence (PUCAI) remains insufficiently understood. The current research explored the link between loneliness and PUCAI among college students, with social anxiety and self-control evaluated as serial mediators. These findings provide preliminary empirical insight into the psychological correlates of PUCAI and may inform future research and educational efforts aimed at promoting healthy and responsible CAI use. Methods: Using convenience sampling, this cross-sectional study analyzed data from 400 undergraduate students enrolled at a university in western China. Research instruments included the Loneliness Scale, the PUCAI Scale, the Social Anxiety Scale, and the Self-Control Scale. Descriptive statistics and Pearson correlations were computed with IBM SPSS Statistics 26.0. Serial mediation was examined with Hayes' PROCESS macro (Model 6), and indirect effects were evaluated using 5,000 bootstrap resamples with 95% confidence intervals. Results: Greater loneliness was linked to higher PUCAI. Social anxiety and self-control each showed significant indirect associations, and the proposed statistical model indicated a significant serial indirect effect involving these two variables. Conclusion: The results offer further insight into the potential psychological pathways associated with PUCAI among college students. The findings suggest that loneliness, social anxiety, and self-regulatory capacities may represent potentially relevant factors to consider in future research and prevention efforts aimed at promoting healthy and responsible CAI use.
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.