Loneliness and excessive smartphone use among Chinese college students: Moderated mediation effect of perceived stressed and motivation

Abstract

Excessive smartphone use has attracted researchers' attention recently. Although extensive research has tested factors that affect excessive smartphone use, few has examined complex models of different motivations and individual characteristics interact with each other, and the subsequent impact on excessive smartphone use. The present study aims to construct a moderated mediation model to explore the impact of loneliness on excessive smartphone use among Chinese college students and its internal mechanism. Using a sample of 549 smartphone users, we found that for entertainment motivation, it was a mediator between loneliness and excessive smartphone use and perceived stress moderated the relationship between the mediator (entertainment motivation) and excessive smartphone use. Additionally, for escapism motivation, loneliness could affect excessive smartphone use only through the mediating role of escapism motivation. Our findings demonstrated the importance of unsolved life problems in facilitating excessive smartphone use and could provide a new perspective for researchers to design interventions for excessive smartphone users.