How do Interpersonal Relationships Relieve Adolescents’ Problematic Mobile Phone Use? The Roles of Loneliness and Motivation to Use Mobile Phones

Rui Zhen, Ru- De Liu, Wei Hong and Xiao Zhou
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Rui Zhen: Institute of Psychological Sciences, College of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, No. 2318 Yuhangtang Road, Hangzhou 311121, China
Ru- De Liu: Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, No. 19 Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing 100875, China
Wei Hong: Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, No. 19 Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing 100875, China
Xiao Zhou: Department of Psychological and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, No.148 Tianmushan Road, Hangzhou 310028, China

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 13, 1-12

Abstract: The current study aimed to explore the underlying mechanisms of how interpersonal relationships relieve adolescents’ problematic mobile phone use (PMPU) and to examine the potential mediating roles of loneliness and motivation to use mobile phones. Four thousand five hundred and nine middle school students from four provinces in China were recruited to participate in the investigation. The results showed that the parent–child relationship but not the teacher–student relationship, had a direct and negative effect on PMPU. The parent–child relationship had indirect effects on PMPU through the mediators of loneliness, escape motivation and relationship motivation; the teacher–student relationship had indirect effects on PMPU only through the mediating factors of loneliness and escape motivation. Both parent–child and teacher–student relationships indirectly affected PMPU through a two-step path from loneliness to escape motivation. These findings highlight the more salient role of the parent–child relationship than that of the teacher–student relationship in directly alleviating PMPU and indicate that satisfying interpersonal relationships can buffer adolescents’ PMPU by lowering their loneliness and motivation to use mobile phones.

Keywords: problematic mobile phone use; parent–child relationship; teacher–student relationship; loneliness; motivation to use mobile phones (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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