Problematic mobile phone use and altruism in Chinese undergraduate students: The mediation effects of alexithymia and empathy

Abstract

Many studies have documented the impacts of problematic mobile phone use on an individual’s well-being. However, few of them examined the association between the problematic mobile phone use and altruism. To address this issue, a total of 674 Chinese undergraduate students (aged from 18 to 24) joined in the current study and were tested with the self-report questionnaires for measuring their levels of problematic mobile phone use, altruism, alexithymia and empathy. The results showed that problematic mobile phone use negatively predicted altruism both directly and indirectly via alexithymia, cognitive empathy and affective empathy. The study demonstrated the link between problematic mobile phone use and altruism and added our understanding of this association.