Understanding the Role of Mental Health in Mobile Phone Addiction Among College Students

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Anxiety and self-esteem play key roles in mediating the connection between depression and mobile phone addition among Chinese college students, according to a study published in Scientific Reports.

Despite mobile phone addiction presenting as a widespread phenomenon, there is a limited understanding of the complexities regarding anxiety, depression and self-esteem among college students.

“Unfortunately, college students are reportedly more susceptible to mobile phone addiction,” wrote a group of investigators from Dalian Medical University, China. “In contrast to older segments of society, college students are often mentally immature and have difficulty self-regulating. As a result, they are more prone to excessive smartphone use.”

Additionally, people attending college are more likely to be “digital natives,” meaning they have grown up with mobile phones being commonplace. Overuse of smartphones is linked to difficulties adapting to life, failures in life planning, lower scholastic achievement and reduced quality of life.

Investigators explored the link between mobile phone addition and anxiety, depression and self-esteem using data from Chinese college students collected from an online questionnaire in April and May 2023. They also analyzed the factors that influence mobile phone addiction as well as the mediating effects of anxiety and self-esteem on the relationship between depression and smartphone addition. Information collected included scores from the Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), the Robert self-esteem scale and the mobile phone addition scale.

Results revealed anxiety mediated the relationship between depression and phone addiction, while self-esteem mediated the relationship between depression and phone addiction. Further, self-esteem also mediated the relationship between anxiety and phone addiction. Anxiety and self-esteem were shown to play sequential roles in developing mobile phone addiction.

A person’s gender, age, smoking status, monthly living expenses, year of university study and mother’s literacy level did not have a significant effect on phone addiction. However, the family atmosphere, alcohol consumption, family residence, only-child status, father’s education level and married parents did. Specifically, the rate of mobile phone addiction was lower among individuals who lived in urban areas compared with students from rural areas. Investigators theorize this could be because students from rural areas have a lack of control over their internet use, which could lead to phone addiction.

Students who were not only children are more prone to mobile phone addiction, which investigators attribute to possible insufficient discipline and the lack of development of good habits to resist phone addiction. Patients with a good family atmosphere and those who had married parents were less likely to develop mobile phone addiction compared with those who grew up in dysfunctional environments. Students who do not drink also exhibited a lower likelihood of mobile phone addiction.

The study also offers practical and effective recommendations for both the prevention and intervention of mobile phone addiction in this participant population. Investigators encourage interventions tailed to specific relationships, such as reducing depression with the use of psychological treatments like cognitive behavioral therapy. Students exhibiting symptoms of anxiety should be taught proactive approaches to improve one’s ability to cope with life’s stressors and psychological distress.

Findings helped to foster a better understanding of the specific mechanisms underlying the relationship between mobile phone addiction and depression. However, results may not be generalizable to college students outside of northeastern China or those attending private universities. Additionally, information bias is possible as the study used self-reported data from students.

“Self-esteem and anxiety mediated the relationship between depression and mobile phone addiction; improving college students' self-esteem led to reduced depression and mobile phone addiction,” investigators concluded.