Keywords

academic stress, depressive symptoms, problematic smartphone usage, problem-focused coping, adolescents

Abstract

Background: Problematic smartphone usage among adolescents and young adults is a growing concern.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether depressive symptoms mediate the relationship between academic stress and problematic smartphone usage, and, more importantly, whether problem-focused coping moderates the association between academic stress and depressive symptoms.

Method: The sample comprised of 316 middle school students (46.8% males, M¼13.74 years old, SD¼0.87) in Southwest China. The results showed that depressive symptoms mediated the association between academic stress and problematic smartphone usage.

Results: This indirect relationship was conditioned by the degree of problem-focused coping. Specifically, those with lower or moderate levels of problem-focused coping tended to report more depressive symptoms, which in turn led to a higher score on problematic smartphone usage. However, this indirect relationship was weakened for those with higher levels of problem-focused coping.

Conclusions: Thus, problem-focused coping should be cultivated when designing mental health interventions to reduce problematic smartphone usage among adolescents.

Original Publication Citation

Xu, T. T., Wang, H. Z., Fonseca, W., Zimmerman, M. A., Rost, D. H., Gaskin, J., & Wang, J. L. (2019). The relationship between academic stress and adolescents’ problematic smartphone usage. Addiction Research & Theory, 27(2), 162-169.

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2019

Publisher

Addiction Research & Theory

Language

English

College

Marriott School of Business

Department

Information Systems Management

University Standing at Time of Publication

Full Professor

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