Citation

Chen L, Li J, Huang J. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022; 19(13): e7578.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/ijerph19137578

PMID

35805232

Abstract

This study proposed a moderated mediation model to investigate the association between COVID-19 victimization experience and mobile phone addiction, the mediating role of future anxiety, and the moderating role of mindfulness. This study employed the COVID-19 victimization experience scale, the mobile phone addiction scale, a future anxiety scale, and a mindfulness scale in a survey study among Chinese college students; 840 valid questionnaires were received. The reliability and confirmatory factor analysis results showed that all four scales had good reliability and validity. Bootstrap results demonstrated that COVID-19 victimization experience significantly predicted mobile phone addiction in college students (B = 0.202, LLCI = 0.136, ULCI = 0.268). Future anxiety fully mediated the association between COVID-19 victimization experience and mobile phone addiction (B = 0.178, LLCI = 0.136, ULCI = 0.222). Mindfulness moderated the effect of COVID-19 victimization experience on the college students' future anxiety (B = 0.159, LLCI = 0.007, ULCI = 0.054). A higher level of mindfulness was more likely than a lower level of mindfulness to attenuate the effect of COVID-19 victimization experience on the college students' future anxiety. These findings broaden our understanding regarding the association between COVID-19 victimization experience and mobile phone addiction and the moderating role of mindfulness.

Language: en

Keywords

mindfulness; college students; COVID-19 victimization experience; future anxiety; mobile phone addiction