Psychological resilience buffers the association between cell phone addiction and sleep quality among college students in Jiangsu Province, China

Abstract

Background and aimsExcessive use of cell phones can take up college students’ time and energy, and the sleep quality will inevitably be affected. A high level of psychological resilience can help them to maintain a positive attitude and cope with stressful events. However, few studies were conducted to investigate the effects of psychological resilience buffering cell phone addiction on sleep quality. In our hypothesis, psychological toughness would mitigate the worsening impact of cell phone addiction on sleep quality.MethodsThe sample consisted of 7,234 Chinese college students who completed an electronic questionnaire that included demographic characteristics, such as the Mobile Phone Addiction Index (MPAI), the Psychological Resilience Index (CD-RISC), and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). SPSS 26.0 was used for data analysis, the measurement data were described by x¯ ± s for those conforming to normal distribution, and the comparison of means between groups was analyzed by group t-test or one-way ANOVA. Those that was not conforming to normal distribution were described by median M (P25, P75), and the comparison of M between groups was analyzed by Mann–Whitney U test and Kruskal–Wallis H test. Using Spearman correlation analysis, the associations between mobile phone addiction, psychological resilience, and sleep quality were evaluated. Using SPSS Process, the mediating role of psychological resilience was examined.ResultsThe mean scores of cell phone addiction and psychological resilience were 45.00 (SD = 13.59) and 60.58 (SD = 18.30), respectively; the sleep quality score M (P25, P75) was 5.0 (3.0, 7.0). Cell phone addiction among college students had a direct predictive effect on sleep quality (β = 0.260, P < 0.01), and psychological resilience had a negative correlation with both cell phone addiction and sleep quality (β = –0.073, P < 0.01, and β = –0.210, P < 0.01). Psychological resilience was responsible for a mediating effect value of 5.556% between cell phone addiction and sleep quality.ConclusionCell phone addiction has an impact on sleep quality both directly and indirectly through the mediating effect of psychological resilience. Increased psychological resilience has the potential effect to buffer the exacerbating of cell phone addiction on sleep quality. These findings provide an evidence for cell phone addiction prevention, psychological management, and sleep improvement in China.

Prevalence and related factors of sleep quality among Chinese undergraduates in Jiangsu Province: multiple models' analysis

“…Most of these results are consistent with previous studies. CD-RISC (Bianchi and Phillips, 2005 ) measured the psychological resilience of undergraduates, and its negative association with CD-RISC was also reported by previous studies (Li and Guo, 2023 ; Xie et al, 2023 ). A higher MPAI represents a higher level of mobile phone addiction.…”

Effect of physical exercise on sleep quality of college students: The intermediary role of Mobile phone Addiction

“…Nowadays, the association between mobile phone addiction and sleep quality has also attracted widespread attention (20,21,22). College students' late bedtimes, short-term sleep, and sleep disorders are strongly associated with excessive smartphone use (23).…”

“…It has been shown that the quality of sleep for college students decreases as the amount of time and energy invested in mobile phone use increases (48). This is because excessive mobile phone use before bed delays and disrupts the sleep process, leads to higher levels of psychological stress, and the blue light emitted by the screen affects melatonin levels (49). However, physical exercise can effectively reduce college students' opportunities and time investment in playing on mobile phones, which in turn can effectively alleviate the degree of mobile phone addiction (50)In addition, media addiction theory suggests that individuals become dependent on a medium when it is the only way to ful ll their needs and desires.…”

The effect of emotion regulation strategies on nomophobia in college students: The masking role of resilience

“…Concerning mobile phone use, researchers initially focused on the relationship between mobile phone addiction, problematic mobile phone use, and college students' mental health. For example, psychological resilience reduces the negative impact of mobile phone addiction on sleep quality [ 9 ]. However, nomophobia has increasingly received attention from researchers [ 10 , 11 ].…”