ArticleFrontiers in public health2025
Negative life events and problematic smartphone use among university students: the mediating role of self-efficacy and the moderating role of physical activity.
Article in Frontiers in public health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- Problematic social media use among young people in Germany: frequency and associated psychosocial and behavioral factors - results from the COPSY study.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2026Article
- The Relationship Between Physical Activity and Mobile Phone Addiction Among Adolescents: A Cross-Lagged Study.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Within-Person Longitudinal Associations Between Obesity-Related Eating Behaviors and Physical Activity Among Older Adults: A Three-Wave Random-Intercept Cross-Lagged Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Mental health and depression as mediators between social media use screen time and academic integrity among tertiary students in Ghana.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Physical activity, regulatory emotional self-efficacy, and suicidal ideation in adolescents: a variable-centered and person-centered approach.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- The bidirectional relationship between emotional distress and subjective wellbeing among college students: a cross-lagged network analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- The relationship between restrained eating and physical activity among female university students: a cross-lagged study.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- Longitudinal associations between physical activity and negative emotions among college students: the chain mediating roles of exercise self-efficacy and psychological resilience.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objectives: This study explores how negative life events relate to problematic smartphone use among university students and examines whether self-efficacy acts as a mediator and physical activity as a moderator in this relationship. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among undergraduates at eight universities in Nanchang, China, from November 2024 to March 2025. Validated instruments were used to assess negative life events (ASLEC), self-efficacy (GSES), physical activity (PARS), and problematic smartphone use (SAS-SV). The sample included 2,680 participants (47.6% male, 52.4% female; mean age = 19.60 years). Statistical analyses included Pearson correlation analysis and PROCESS models for mediation and moderation. Results: Negative life events were positively correlated with problematic smartphone use and negatively correlated with self-efficacy and physical activity. Self-efficacy partially mediated the relationship between negative life events and problematic smartphone use [indirect effect Conclusions: Negative life events, self-efficacy, physical activity, and problematic smartphone use are interrelated among university students. Enhancing self-efficacy and promoting physical activity may help mitigate problematic smartphone use. However, the cross-sectional design and reliance on self-reports limit causal inference.
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