The relationship between self-compassion and mobile phone addiction in university students: a chain mediation model

BackgroundCurrently, the uncertainty and high pressure of the social environment, as well as the popularity of the Internet and mobile phones, have made mobile phone addiction a prevalent phenomenon among university students. This study explored the relationship between self-compassion and mobile ph...

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Main Authors: Jingyu Qiang, Ying Jin, Yuqi Li, Cheng Xu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2025-06-01
Series:Frontiers in Psychiatry
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1603860/full
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author Jingyu Qiang
Ying Jin
Yuqi Li
Cheng Xu
author_facet Jingyu Qiang
Ying Jin
Yuqi Li
Cheng Xu
author_sort Jingyu Qiang
collection DOAJ
description BackgroundCurrently, the uncertainty and high pressure of the social environment, as well as the popularity of the Internet and mobile phones, have made mobile phone addiction a prevalent phenomenon among university students. This study explored the relationship between self-compassion and mobile phone addiction in university students and the mediating effects of negative attention bias and self-regulatory fatigue.MethodsThe study used convenience sampling to recruit 800 Chinese university students to complete the Chinese version of the Self-Compassion Scale, the Negative Attention Bias Scale, the Self-Regulatory Fatigue Scale, and the Mobile Phone Addiction Scale. SPSS 24.0 and the Process 3.4 macro program were employed to generate the descriptive statistics and conduct the correlation analyses and mediating effect tests on the data.ResultsThe analyses revealed that self-compassion negatively predicted mobile phone addiction. Negative attention bias and self-regulatory fatigue individually mediated the effect of self-compassion on mobile phone addiction. Negative attention bias and self-regulatory fatigue also exhibited a chain mediation effect.ConclusionsThe results of the study, from the perspective of self-compassion, have theoretical and practical implications for how to intervene in the mobile phone addiction of university students as well as to protect their physical and mental health.
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spelling doaj-art-642bb912b8b74d70aaffdf98a9fa1f092025-08-20T02:39:32ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychiatry1664-06402025-06-011610.3389/fpsyt.2025.16038601603860The relationship between self-compassion and mobile phone addiction in university students: a chain mediation modelJingyu Qiang0Ying Jin1Yuqi Li2Cheng Xu3School of Foreign Languages, Guangdong University of Petrochemical Technology, Maoming, Guangdong, ChinaSchool of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, ChinaSchool of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, ChinaSchool of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, ChinaBackgroundCurrently, the uncertainty and high pressure of the social environment, as well as the popularity of the Internet and mobile phones, have made mobile phone addiction a prevalent phenomenon among university students. This study explored the relationship between self-compassion and mobile phone addiction in university students and the mediating effects of negative attention bias and self-regulatory fatigue.MethodsThe study used convenience sampling to recruit 800 Chinese university students to complete the Chinese version of the Self-Compassion Scale, the Negative Attention Bias Scale, the Self-Regulatory Fatigue Scale, and the Mobile Phone Addiction Scale. SPSS 24.0 and the Process 3.4 macro program were employed to generate the descriptive statistics and conduct the correlation analyses and mediating effect tests on the data.ResultsThe analyses revealed that self-compassion negatively predicted mobile phone addiction. Negative attention bias and self-regulatory fatigue individually mediated the effect of self-compassion on mobile phone addiction. Negative attention bias and self-regulatory fatigue also exhibited a chain mediation effect.ConclusionsThe results of the study, from the perspective of self-compassion, have theoretical and practical implications for how to intervene in the mobile phone addiction of university students as well as to protect their physical and mental health.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1603860/fullself-compassionnegative attention biasself-regulatory fatiguemobile phone addictionchain mediation model
spellingShingle Jingyu Qiang
Ying Jin
Yuqi Li
Cheng Xu
The relationship between self-compassion and mobile phone addiction in university students: a chain mediation model
Frontiers in Psychiatry
self-compassion
negative attention bias
self-regulatory fatigue
mobile phone addiction
chain mediation model
title The relationship between self-compassion and mobile phone addiction in university students: a chain mediation model
title_full The relationship between self-compassion and mobile phone addiction in university students: a chain mediation model
title_fullStr The relationship between self-compassion and mobile phone addiction in university students: a chain mediation model
title_full_unstemmed The relationship between self-compassion and mobile phone addiction in university students: a chain mediation model
title_short The relationship between self-compassion and mobile phone addiction in university students: a chain mediation model
title_sort relationship between self compassion and mobile phone addiction in university students a chain mediation model
topic self-compassion
negative attention bias
self-regulatory fatigue
mobile phone addiction
chain mediation model
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1603860/full
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