The more academic burnout students got, the more problematic mobile phone use they suffered? A meta-analysis of mainland Chinese adolescents and young adults

Abstract

IntroductionIn recent years, the relationship between academic burnout (AB) and problematic mobile phone use (PMPU) has become the hot issue of scholars, and a lot of related research has been carried out, but the results are different. Most studies showed that there was a significant positive correlation between AB and PMPU. However, some studies showed that the relationship between AB and PMPU was not significant. While this study aimed at exploring the relationship between AB and PMPU, as well as the influence of some moderating factors (region, age, gender, publication year, the measurement instrument) on them.MethodsAccording to the searching process for studies of PRISMA, we searched the related studies on AB and PMPU in Mainland China from January 2012 to November 2022 from CNKI, Wanfang Data, Chongqing VIP Information Co., Ltd. (VIP), Baidu scholar, ProQuest dissertations, Taylor & Francis, Springer, Web of Science, Google Scholar, EBSCO and PsyclNFO. Eventually, 50 studies were included in the meta-analysis, involving 38,488 subjects, with the sample size ranging from 193 to 2,260. CMA 3.0 was used to analyze the overall effect and test the moderating effect.ResultsThe result shows that the relationship between AB and PMPU can be considered as a moderate correlation (r = 0.414, 95%CI [0.384, 0.443]), and moderator analysis shows that the relationship between AB and PMPU was moderated by the measurement instrument and publication year.DiscussionSpecifically, when the Mobile Phone Addiction Tendency Scale and the Smartphone Addiction Scale for College Students were used as PMPU measurement tools, the correlation coefficients between AB and PMPU were higher. When the publication year was used as a moderating variable, the relationship between AB and PMPU increased over the years.Systematic Review Registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42022347277, identifier PROSPERO CRD42022347277.

The Impact of Perceived Discrimination on Mobile Phone Addiction Among Chinese Higher Vocational College Students: A Chain Mediating Role of Negative Emotions and Learning Burnout

“…Secondly, our findings suggest that perceived discrimination is a strong predictor of learning burnout, which in turn significantly predicts mobile phone addiction among higher vocational college students. In line with previous research suggesting the notion that negative responses to daily stressors induce academic burnout among students 34,35 and the close positive relationship between learning burnout and problematic mobile phone use, 38 our research supports the compensatory internet use theory. According to this theory, individuals who perceive themselves in a disadvantageous position (eg, discrimination) always exert mental exhaustion and learning burnout, and finally, these negative situations cause individuals to tend to (excessively) the internet to compensate for their negative emotions, resulting in mobile phone addiction.…”

“…37 Specifically, individuals' response to negative life situations is the reason for compensatory internet use, and the response can compensate for negative emotions by using the internet to generate positive feelings. 38 Higher vocational college students often experience negative feelings in learning, such as feelings of exhaustion and burnout, resulting in a decline in academic performance, so they tend to use mobile phones excessively to alleviate the burnout, resulting in mobile phone addiction.…”

“…According to this theory, individuals who perceive themselves in a disadvantageous position (eg, discrimination) always exert mental exhaustion and learning burnout, and finally, these negative situations cause individuals to tend to (excessively) the internet to compensate for their negative emotions, resulting in mobile phone addiction. 37,38 In Psychology Research and Behavior Management 2024:17 https://doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S440958 DovePress 407 practical terms, students in higher vocational colleges are often accompanied by negative emotions and motivation decrement, leading to learning burnout. Ultimately, the learning burnout may result in excessive use of mobile phone (and mobile phone addiction) throughout individuals' compensation motivation.…”

Impact of Learning Burnout on Mobile Phone Dependence Among Adolescents in Western China Under the “Double Reduction” Policy: The Mediating Role of Social Support

“… 43 , 44 MPD as a result of learning burnout, previous studies have shown that learning burnout and MPD can damage the sense of social support, specifically leading to a reduction in school participation and family closeness. 45 Therefore, if adolescents are not provided with adequate social support, their learning burnout will not be alleviated, which indirectly leads to MPD. Although both the theoretical underpinnings and the empirical research supported a pin-point correlation between MPD, learning burnout and social support, there is a lack of known about the mediating role of adolescents’ social support in the relationship between learning burnout and MPD.…”

Unraveling the longitudinal relationships between connectedness to nature, depressive symptoms, and learning burnout in adolescents

“…The findings indicated that more than 30% of primary school students experienced learning fatigue, while the percentage increased to more than 70% among secondary school students, reflecting a higher prevalence of learning burnout (Gao, 2023). Learning burnout is known to be associated with various negative consequences, such as heightened levels of depression and anxiety, physical symptoms, internet addiction, and a greater likelihood of school dropout (Li et al, 2023; Qin et al, 2023; Walburg, 2014). Depression is now the most common psychological problem among adolescents.…”