The Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Mobile Phone Addiction in Chinese College Students: A Serial Multiple Mediator Model

Abstract

Mobile phone addiction is a universal phenomenon that has attracted a lot of attention in recent years. Previous researches revealed a significant relation between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and addiction. This study further investigated the association between ACEs and mobile phone addiction, and the mediating effects of attachment styles and interpersonal relationships. The cross-sectional design and multiple questionnaires, namely, the Revised Adverse Childhood Experience Questionnaire, the Mobile Phone Addiction Index, the Revised Adult Attachment Scale (AAS), and the Interpersonal Relationship Comprehensive Diagnostic Scale (IRCDS) were used in the sample of 345 university students. Correlation analysis revealed that adverse childhood experience, attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, interpersonal relationship, and mobile phone addiction were significantly positively correlated with each other. Results of regression analysis showed that attachment style and interpersonal relationship played multiple mediation roles in the association between adverse childhood experience and mobile phone addiction. That is, (1) adverse childhood experience was positively related to mobile phone addiction, (2) both attachment anxiety and interpersonal relationship played partial and parallel mediating roles between adverse childhood experience and mobile phone addiction, and (3) attachment anxiety/avoidance and interpersonal relationship mediated the relationship between adverse childhood experience and mobile phone addiction sequentially. These results indicated that mobile phone addiction among college students who had adverse childhood experience can be relieved by way of the remission of attachment anxiety, reduction of attachment avoidance, and improvement of interpersonal relationship.

The influence of mobile phone addiction and work procrastination on burnout among newly graduated Chinese nurses

“…Even so, the prevalence of work procrastination among newly graduated nurses is concerning. The level of mobile phone addiction was less than that reported in previous studies 50,51 . One possible explanation for this finding is that college students have more free time compared with newly graduated nurses.…”

Association between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Time Spent Playing Video Games in Adolescents: Results from A-CHILD Study

“…Covariates were the child’s sex, number of siblings, grade in school, and maternal age, which were measured via the questionnaire. These variables were selected as covariates because the child’s sex and maternal age were used as confounders in previous studies that examined the association between ACEs and addictive mobile phone use [ 25 ] and the association between family function and problematic Internet use [ 26 ]. Furthermore, the number of siblings is associated with ACEs [ 27 ] and gaming [ 28 , 29 ].…”

Effects of Cell Phone Dependence on Mental Health Among College Students During the Pandemic of COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Survey of a Medical University in Shanghai

“…In order to identify independent effects of CPD on mental health for college students, other related characteristics must be controlled. We take into account age (Xie et al, 2019b ), grade (Dou et al, 2020 ), gender (Lu et al, 2018 ), monthly allowance (Li et al, 2020 ), Faculty-Student relationship (Liang and Liu, 2021 ), substance use (Carreiro et al, 2018 ), physical exercise (Zhong and Wang, 2020 ), insomnia (Zhang et al, 2021 ), obesity (Ali et al, 2021 ), life satisfaction (Kuang-Tsan, 2017 ), and subjective wellbeing (SWB) (Ye et al, 2021 ) to confirm the salient effect of CPD and mental health.…”