The Impact of Social Anxiety on Adolescents’ Mobile Phone Dependency: The Longitudinal Moderating Role of Self-Control

doi:10.12139/j.1672-0628.2026.02.016

Abstract

Abstract: To investigate the longitudinal relationship between social anxiety and mobile phone dependency among adolescents, as well as the longitudinal moderating role of self-control, a one-year, three-wave longitudinal study was conducted with 750 adolescents. The study utilized the Social Anxiety Scale, Mobile Phone Dependency Scale, and Self-Control Scale to assess the participants. The results indicated that: 1) Social anxiety and mobile phone dependency both exhibited linear growth trends, while self-control showed a linear decline. 2) The initial level and development rate of social anxiety significantly and positively predicted the initial level and development rate of mobile phone dependency. 3) The initial level of self-control significantly negatively moderated the relationship between social anxiety and initial mobile phone dependency. 4) The development rate of self-control significantly negatively moderated the relationship between changes in social anxiety and changes in mobile phone dependency. These findings suggest that self-control plays a longitudinal moderating role in the effect of social anxiety on mobile phone dependency among adolescents.

Key words: mobile phone dependency, social anxiety, self-control, latent growth model

摘要： 为探究青少年社交焦虑与手机依赖的纵向发展关系，以及自我控制的纵向调节作用，采用社交焦虑量表、手机依赖量表和自我控制量表对750名青少年进行为期1年3次的追踪调查。结果发现：(1)社交焦虑和手机依赖呈线性增长趋势，自我控制呈线性下降趋势；(2)社交焦虑的初始水平和发展速度分别对手机依赖的初始水平和发展速度起显著正向预测作用；(3)自我控制的初始水平在社交焦虑和青少年手机依赖的初始水平之间的负向调节效应显著；(4)自我控制的发展速度在社交焦虑和青少年手机依赖的发展速度之间的负向调节效应显著。研究结果说明自我控制在社交焦虑对青少年手机依赖的影响中起纵向调节作用。

关键词: 手机依赖, 社交焦虑, 自我控制, 潜在增长模型

CLC Number:

B849

KONG Xu, XIONG Sicheng, ZENG Chengwei, ZHANG Bin. The Impact of Social Anxiety on Adolescents’ Mobile Phone Dependency: The Longitudinal Moderating Role of Self-Control[J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2026, 24(2): 265-272.

孔旭, 熊思成, 曾成伟, 张斌. 社交焦虑对青少年手机依赖的影响：自我控制的纵向调节作用[J]. 心理与行为研究, 2026, 24(2): 265-272.

References

方杰, 温忠麟. (2022). 纵向数据的调节效应分析. 心理科学进展, 30(11), 2461–2472
葛文婷. (2024). 高中生成长型思维对社交焦虑的影响: 核心自我评价的中介作用及干预(硕士学位论文). 广西民族大学, 南宁.
关元, 何嘉梅. (2018). 自我控制: 内涵、理论及展望. 心理技术与应用, 6(2), 118–128
郭晓薇. (2000). 大学生社交焦虑成因的研究. 心理学探新, 20(1), 55–58
黄凤, 郭锋, 丁倩, 洪建中. (2021). 社交焦虑对大学生手机成瘾的影响: 认知失败和情绪调节自我效能感的作用. 中国临床心理学杂志, 29(1), 56–59,13
蒋舒阳, 刘儒德, 冯毛, 洪伟, 金芳凯. (2024). 自尊与中学生问题性手机使用: 社交焦虑和逃避动机的中介作用. 心理科学, 47(4), 940–946
罗涛, 程李梅, 秦立霞, 肖水源. (2021). 简式自我控制量表中文版的信效度检验. 中国临床心理学杂志, 29(1), 83–86
潘朝霞, 张大均, 潘彦谷, 胡天强. (2018). 中学生自尊和评价恐惧在心理素质与社交焦虑中的中介作用. 中国心理卫生杂志, 32(8), 676–681
汪向东, 王希林, 马弘. (1999). 心理卫生评定量表手册(增订版) (pp. 490–493). 北京: 中国心理卫生杂志社.
魏忠凤. (2023). 自我控制与大学生学业拖延的关系: 手机成瘾与学习投入的链式中介作用. 中国临床心理学杂志, 31(5), 1248–1252
项明强, 王梓蓉, 马奔. (2019). 智能手机依赖量表中文版在青少年中的信效度检验. 中国临床心理学杂志, 27(5), 959–964
熊思成, 张斌, 姜永志, 蒋怀滨, 陈芸. (2021). 手机成瘾流行率及其影响因素的元分析. 心理与行为研究, 19(6), 802–808
徐扬, 刘海燕, 刘慧敏. (2024). 大学生社交焦虑和手机成瘾的关系: 科技侵扰和负面评价恐惧的并行中介作用. 中国健康心理学杂志, 32(6), 926–933
于晓琪, 李哲能, 方圆, 董妍. (2021). 青少年智能手机问题性使用与焦虑的交叉滞后分析. 心理科学, 44(4), 866–872
曾奕欣, 张斌, 熊思成, 龙专, 张安琪, 曾成伟, … 杨莹. (2024). 手机依赖对初中生社交焦虑发展的影响: 身体羞耻的纵向中介作用. 心理科学, 47(2), 316–324
中国互联网络信息中心. (2023). 第5次全国未成年人互联网使用情况调查报告. 2025-01-20取自https://cnnic.cn/NMediaFile/2023/1225/MAIN1703484375296SPBHV29S0V.pdf
Allemand, M., Job, V., & Mroczek, D. K. (2019). Self-control development in adolescence predicts love and work in adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 117(3), 621–634
Baumeister, R. F., & Vohs, K. D. (2007). Self-regulation, ego depletion, and motivation. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 1(1), 115–128
Busch, P. A., & McCarthy, S. (2021). Antecedents and consequences of problematic smartphone use: A systematic literature review of an emerging research area. Computers in Human Behavior, 114, 106414
Casey, B. J., Duhoux, S., & Cohen, M. M. (2010). Adolescence: What do transmission, transition, and translation have to do with it? Neuron, 67(5), 749–760
Choe, C., & Yu, S. (2022). Longitudinal cross-lagged analysis between mobile phone dependence, friendships, and depressive symptoms among Korean adolescents. Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, 25(7), 450–457.
Danneel, S., Geukens, F., Maes, M., Bastin, M., Bijttebier, P., Colpin, H., … Goossens, L. (2020). Loneliness, social anxiety symptoms, and depressive symptoms in adolescence: Longitudinal distinctiveness and correlated change. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 49(11), 2246–2264
De Freitas, B. H. B. M., Gaíva, M. A. M., Bernardino, F. B. S., & Diogo, P. M. J. (2021). Smartphone addiction in adolescents, part 2: Scoping review—prevalence and associated factors. Trends in Psychology, 29(1), 12–30
De Lijster, J. M., Dieleman, G. C., Utens, E. M. W. J., Dierckx, B., Wierenga, M., Verhulst, F. C., & Legerstee, J. S. (2018). Social and academic functioning in adolescents with anxiety disorders: A systematic review. Journal of Affective Disorders, 230, 108–117
Denaro, C. M., Hartley, A. A., Couperus, J. W., Bukach, C. M., & Reed, C. L. (2025). Procrastination and anxiety aspects of self-control predict individual differences in the mismatch negativity (MMN). International Journal of Psychophysiology, 214, 113202
Gao, L. F., Zhao, W., Caselli, G., Zhang, Y. H., Wang, X. M., Zhang, Y. W., & Chen, H. D. (2024). Weak and interfered self-control fails to block problematic mobile phone use: The role of craving and desire thinking. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 179, 191–198
Hagger, M. S., Wood, C., Stiff, C., & Chatzisarantis, N. L. D. (2010). Ego depletion and the strength model of self-control: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 136(4), 495–525
Hofmann, W., Friese, M., & Strack, F. (2009). Impulse and self-control from a dual-systems perspective. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4(2), 162–176
İnal, Ö., & Serel Arslan, S. (2021). Investigating the effect of smartphone addiction on musculoskeletal system problems and cognitive flexibility in university students. Work, 68(1), 107–113
Jin Jeong, Y., Suh, B., & Gweon, G. (2020). Is smartphone addiction different from Internet addiction? Comparison of addiction-risk factors among adolescents. Behaviour & Information Technology, 39(5), 578–593
Kardefelt-Winther, D. (2014). A conceptual and methodological critique of internet addiction research: Towards a model of compensatory internet use. Computers in Human Behavior, 31, 351–354
Kong, F. C., Qin, J. K., Huang, B., Zhang, H. B., & Lei, L. (2020). The effect of social anxiety on mobile phone dependence among Chinese adolescents: A moderated mediation model. Children and Youth Services Review, 108, 104517
Luo, J., Cai, G. Q., Zu, X. F., Huang, Q. M., & Cao, Q. (2025). Mobile phone addiction and negative emotions: An empirical study among adolescents in Jiangxi Province. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 16, 1541605
Mei, S. L., Hu, Y. Y., Wu, X. G., Cao, R. L., Kong, Y. X., Zhang, L. W., … Li, L. (2023). Health risks of mobile phone addiction among college students in China. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 21(4), 2650–2665
Moffitt, T. E., Arseneault, L., Belsky, D., Dickson, N., Hancox, R. J., Harrington, H., … Caspi, A. (2011). A gradient of childhood self-control predicts health, wealth, and public safety. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108(7), 2693–2698
Ng-Knight, T., Shelton, K. H., Riglin, L., McManus, I. C., Frederickson, N., & Rice, F. (2016). A longitudinal study of self-control at the transition to secondary school: Considering the role of pubertal status and parenting. Journal of Adolescence, 50, 44–55
Peng, Y., Zhou, H. L., Zhang, B., Mao, H. L., Hu, R. T., & Jiang, H. B. (2022). Perceived stress and mobile phone addiction among college students during the 2019 coronavirus disease: The mediating roles of rumination and the moderating role of self-control. Personality and Individual Differences, 185, 111222
Saunders, T., Driskell, J. E., Johnston, J. H., & Salas, E. (1996). The effect of stress inoculation training on anxiety and performance. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 1(2), 170–186
Shen, X. W., Wang, C. G., Chen, C. Y., Wang, Y. F., Wang, Z. N., Zheng, Y. P., & Liu, H. Y. (2023). Stress and internet addiction: Mediated by anxiety and moderated by self-control. Psychology Research and Behavior Management, 16, 1975–1986
Singer, J. D., & Willett, J. B. (2003). Applied longitudinal data analysis: Modeling change and event occurrence (pp. 644). New York: Oxford University Press.
Su, D., Zhang, J. H., Ma, Y. Y., & Geng, Z. (2025). Self-control, academic anxiety, and mobile phone addiction: The moderating role of being an only child. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1587279
Wang, L. X., Dou, K., Li, J. B., Zhang, M. C., & Guan, J. Y. (2021). The association between interparental conflict and problematic internet use among Chinese adolescents: Testing a moderated mediation model. Computers in Human Behavior, 122, 106832
Wang, P. C., Zhao, M., Wang, X. C., Xie, X. C., Wang, Y. H., & Lei, L. (2017). Peer relationship and adolescent smartphone addiction: The mediating role of self-esteem and the moderating role of the need to belong. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 6(4), 708–717
Wei, X. Y., Ren, L., Jiang, H. B., Liu, C., Wang, H. X., Geng, J. Y., … Lei, L. (2023). Does adolescents’ social anxiety trigger problematic smartphone use, or vice versa? A comparison between problematic and unproblematic smartphone users. Computers in Human Behavior, 140, 107602
Wills, T. A., Ainette, M. G., Stoolmiller, M., Gibbons, F. X., & Shinar, O. (2008). Good self-control as a buffering agent for adolescent substance use: An investigation in early adolescence with time-varying covariates. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 22(4), 459–471
Zhang, H., Chen, C. J., Zhang, L. Y., Xue, S., & Tang, W. J. (2024). The association between the deviation from balanced time perspective on adolescent pandemic mobile phone addiction: The moderating role of self-control and the mediating role of psychological distress. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1298256
Zhou, H., Dang, L., Lam, L. W., Zhang, M. X., & Wu, A. M. S. (2021). A cross-lagged panel model for testing the bidirectional relationship between depression and smartphone addiction and the influences of maladaptive metacognition on them in Chinese adolescents. Addictive Behaviors, 120, 106978

[1]	Yixu PANG, Zixuan PENG, Jia LI, Yixuan SONG, Meng YU. The Magic of Altruism: The Effect of Self-Interest/Altruistic Behaviour on Risk Decision-Making in College Students with High Social Anxiety [J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2025, 23(4): 560-568.
[2]	Yanhui XIANG, Lizhuoyao ZHOU. The Effect of Father Love Absence on Non-Suicidal Self-Injury in Adolescents: Longitudinal Mediation of Self-Control and Smartphone Addiction [J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2025, 23(3): 369-376.
[3]	Yuqian LIANG, Rui LI, Zhiyong QU, Wangqian FU. The Relationship Between the Effort-Reward Imbalance Level and Job Burnout Among Teachers in Higher Vocational Colleges: Self-Control Ability as a Moderator [J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2025, 23(3): 423-429.
[4]	Liming ZHAO, Mengmeng HAN, Jinjin JIA. Relationship Between Social Anxiety and Aggression in Middle School Students: Mediating Role of Speech Fluency and Moderating Role of Emotional Intelligence [J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2025, 23(2): 265-272.
[5]	Peng WU, Yuliang WANG, Xingyu JIANG. The Developmental Trajectories of Future Occupation Planning Among Chinese High School Students: A Latent Growth Model [J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2025, 23(1): 115-122.
[6]	Shan SUN, Pian CHEN, Yang YANG, Aodi HUANG, Meiping WANG. Parental Conflict and Early Adolescents’ Aggression: The Chain Mediating Effect of Emotional Insecurity and Self-Control [J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2024, 22(6): 784-790.
[7]	Wenjun GUAN, Tianhao WU, Yuke CHENG, Qiang DUO. The Relationship Between Fear of Negative Evaluation and Social Anxiety in Parents of Autistic Children: A Moderated Mediation Model [J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2024, 22(3): 418-424.
[8]	Zifu SHI, Huohong CHEN, Yihan ZHANG, Jinliang GUAN, Biqi XIA, Ziyang JIN. The Effect of Parental Helicopter Parenting on Subjective Well-Being of College Students: The Chain Mediating Effect of Self-Control and Depression [J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2024, 22(1): 116-122.
[9]	Mingzheng WU, Di CHEN, Mengyao YAN, Suhang NI, Shiqi WANG, Jinrong YIN, Xiaoling SUN. Family Rituals and Self-Control of Adolescents: A Chain Mediating Model of Parent-Child Attachment and Meaning in Life [J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2023, 21(6): 832-838.
[10]	Zhiying GUO. Relationship Between Migrant Children’s Parenting Style and Self-Control: The Chain Mediation Role of Family Function and Self-Esteem [J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2023, 21(4): 503-509.
[11]	Haidong LIU, Zhijun YU, Baojuan YE, Qiang YANG. Family Cohesion and Depression: The Role of Social Anxiety and Gratitude [J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2023, 21(4): 556-563.
[12]	Simin ZHANG, Qiyiru DONG, Fei CHEN, Aersheng HAIDABIEKE, Xuechen DING, Zhongmin ZHU. Relations Between Self-Perceived Social Competence and Emotional Problems in Chinese Children: Role of Avoidant Coping Strategy and Social Sensitivity [J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2023, 21(3): 336-343.
[13]	Jiaojiao LI, Hailong YUAN, Bibo XU. The Relationship Between Self-Differentiation and Online Game Addiction in College Students: The Chain Mediating Effect of Shyness and Self-Control [J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2023, 21(3): 395-402.
[14]	Jiao CHEN, Meng XIONG. Effects of Relative Deprivation on College Students’ Social Anxiety: A Moderated Mediating Model [J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2023, 21(1): 65-71.
[15]	MA Liyun, MO Wen. The Influence of Positive Emotion on Prosocial Behavior Under Ego-Depletion [J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2022, 20(5): 684-691.