Prospective Association between Smartphone Addiction and Perceived Stress and Moderation of Boredom during COVID-19 in China

Smartphone addiction (SPA) is prevalent in college students and harms their healthy development, and perceived stress (PS) has been a well-documented risk factor of SPA. People often experienced boredom during COVID-19; however, its effect on behavioral/mental health during the pandemic has been rarely tested. We investigated the prospective association between SPA and PS before and during COVID-19, as well as the moderation of boredom. A total of 197 college students participated in four-wave surveys from December 2018 to June 2020 in China. The cross-lagged model was developed to investigate the prospective association between SPA and PS from T1 to T4. Boredom was added to the model at T4 as a moderator to explore the moderating role of boredom during COVID-19. The results showed that the pandemic changed PS's prediction on SPA. During COVID-19, boredom significantly affected SPA and PS and moderated the link from PS at T3 to PS at T4. The results suggest that the prospective associations between SPA and PS varied before and during COVID-19. Prevention of SPA should be conducted for new students and should be used to enhance their stress coping capacity. Intervention programs for eliminating boredom may be effective for reducing stress and SPA during COVID-19.

Automated summary

Smartphone addiction is common among college students and negatively impacts their healthy development. Perceived stress has been identified as a risk factor for smartphone addiction. However, the effects of boredom on behavioral and mental health during COVID-19 have been rarely examined. This study investigated the prospective association between smartphone addiction and perceived stress before and during COVID-19, as well as the moderating role of boredom.