The impact of academic anxiety on smartphone addiction among college students: the mediating role of self-regulatory fatigue and the moderating role of mindfulness

作者：Linghao Kong, Mingzhe Zhao, Weijun Huang, Weijuan Zhang, Junlin Liu · 发表于：BMC Psychology · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1186/s40359-025-02696-y · 被引用次数：18 · 研究领域：Impact of Technology on Adolescents、Perfectionism, Procrastination, Anxiety Studies、COVID-19 and Mental Health

BACKGROUND: Academic anxiety is recognized as a risk factor of smartphone addiction among college students. However, the underlying mechanisms and moderating factors remain insufficiently explored. METHOD: This study examines the impact of academic anxiety on smartphone addiction, focusing on the mediating role of self-regulatory fatigue and the moderating role of mindfulness. Using convenience sampling strategy, a cross-sectional survey was implemented. Data were collected from a survey of 685 college students by using the Academic Anxiety Scale, Smartphone Addiction Scale, Self-Regulatory Fatigue Scale, and Mindfulness Scale. The hypothesized moderated mediation model was analyzed using Hayes' (2017) PROCESS macro (Model 59). RESULTS: Moderated mediation analysis finds that academic anxiety significantly positively predicts smartphone addiction (β = 0.30, t = 7.24, 95%CI=[0.22, 0.38], p<0.001) in college students. Academic anxiety also indirectly predicts smartphone addiction through self-regulatory fatigue (β = 0.09, t = 2.43, 95%CI=[0.02, 0.16], p<0.05), with the mediation effect accounting for 11.76%. The mediation pathways are moderated by mindfulness. Compared with students with low mindfulness, the influence of academic anxiety on self-regulatory fatigue is stronger in students with high mindfulness(β = 0.10, t = 3.85, 95%CI=[0.05, 0.16], p<0.001). However, compared with students with low mindfulness, the influence of self-regulatory fatigue on smartphone addiction is...