The Impact of Undergraduates’ Social Isolation on Smartphone Addiction: The Roles of Academic Anxiety and Social Media Use

Youlai Zeng, Jiahui Zhang, Jiaxin Wei and Shunyu Li ()
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Youlai Zeng: School of Education, Liaoning Normal University, 850 Huanghe Road, Dalian 116029, China
Jiahui Zhang: School of Education, Liaoning Normal University, 850 Huanghe Road, Dalian 116029, China
Jiaxin Wei: School of Education, Liaoning Normal University, 850 Huanghe Road, Dalian 116029, China
Shunyu Li: Center for Teacher Education Research in Xinjiang, Xinjiang Normal University, 100 Guanjing Road, Urumqi 830017, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 23, 1-16

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has an adverse effect on the physical health of societies and individuals. One important concern is the effect of social isolation on the mental health of undergraduates, such as academic anxiety, smartphone addiction and other social psychological problems. The purpose of this study was to investigate associations among undergraduates’ social isolation in this special context, social media use for obtaining information about the COVID-19 pandemic (i.e., communicative and non-communicative), academic anxiety, and smartphone addiction. A cross-sectional survey was conducted from May to June in 2022 and a total of 388 undergraduates were included. The results showed significant positive associations between social isolation and smartphone addiction and academic anxiety. Furthermore, academic anxiety played a mediating role in the effect of social isolation on smartphone addiction, which was moderated by non-communicative social media use. Some theoretical and practical implications as well as research limitations are discussed.

Keywords: social isolation; social media use; academic anxiety; smartphone addiction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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