Abstract
Objectives: The mobile phone (MP) is an indispensable digital device in adolescents’ daily lives in the contemporary era, but being addicted to MP can lead to more risk-taking behavior. However, little is known about the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying this relation. To address the gaps in the literature, the present study examined the idea that MP addiction is associated with reduced self-control, which further associates with increased risk-taking behavior. In addition, this study also investigated the moderation effect of adolescent sex in the association between MP addiction and self-control. Methods: A three-wave longitudinal study, each wave spanning six months apart, was conducted in a sample of Chinese adolescents (final N = 333, 57.4% girls). Results: Results of the moderated mediation model suggest that after controlling for demographic variables and baseline levels of self-control and risk-taking behavior, MP addiction at T1 positively predicted increased risk-taking behavior at T3 through reduced self-control at T2 for girls but not for boys. Conclusions: Theoretically, these findings contribute to the understanding about the working processes in the association between MP addiction and risk-taking behavior in adolescents. Practically, the results implied that boosting self-control appeared as a promising way to reduce girls’ risk-taking behavior, particularly for those who are addicted to MPs.
Highlights
Mobile phones (MPs) are ubiquitous in the contemporary era
We propose that MP addiction would be related to reduced self-control which further drives them to engage in more risk-taking behavior
We explore whether sex would play a role as well, given the sex differences in self-control [12,13,14] and MP addiction [15,16]. We examined these issues in a sample of Chinese adolescents
Summary
Mobile phones (MPs) are ubiquitous in the contemporary era. According to a recent report, China’s MP users reached 897 million, an increase of 4.2 million compared to 2018 [1]. Adolescents constitute a major proportion of MP users in China. The appropriate use of MPs (e.g., looking up useful information and maintaining positive social ties) can be beneficial to adolescents (e.g., feeling higher subjective well-being) [2,3], being addicted to a MP is associated with a wide array of undesirable outcomes in adolescents [4,5,6]. MP addiction is a type of addiction to technology and it can be defined as the uncontrolled or excessive use of mobile phones, with an inability to control craving, feeling anxious, withdrawal, and productivity loss as symptoms [11]
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