The moderating effect of smartphone addiction on the relationship between social skills and anxiety among left-behind secondary school students
- 1First Clinical College of Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu 221004, China
Abstract
ObjectiveTo examine the moderating effect of smartphone addiction on the relationship between social skills and anxiety among left-behind secondary school students.MethodsA cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted among 1 522 students from six secondary schools in Jiangsu Province between November 2023 and April 2024. According to left-behind status, students were classified into a left-behind group (n=550, 36.14%) and a non-left-behind group (n=972, 63.86%). Social skills, anxiety, and smartphone addiction were assessed using the Chinese version of the Social Skills Improvement System Rating Scales (SSIS-RS-C), the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED), and the Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version (SAS-SV), respectively, and differences between the two groups were compared. Latent profile analysis was used to identify latent profiles of social skills among left-behind students. Hierarchical linear regression and the Johnson-Neyman method were used to examine the moderating effect of smartphone addiction on the relationship between social skills and anxiety.ResultsCompared with the non-left-behind group, the left-behind group had higher scores for smartphone addiction and anxiety and lower scores for social skills (P<0.05). The total SSIS-RS-C score negatively predicted the total SCARED score (β=-0.305, P<0.05), whereas the total SAS-SV score positively predicted the total SCARED score (β=0.189, P<0.05). The interaction between the total SSIS-RS-C score and the total SAS-SV score negatively predicted the total SCARED score (β=-0.138, P<0.05). Latent profile analysis identified three profiles of social skills among left-behind students: good, average, and deficient. In the average and deficient profiles, when the total SAS-SV score exceeded 24.37 and 31.27, respectively, the total SSIS-RS-C score was negatively associated with the total SCARED score (B=-0.027 and -0.030, respectively; both P<0.05), and this negative association strengthened as the total SAS-SV score increased.ConclusionsSmartphone addiction moderates the relationship between social skills and anxiety among left-behind secondary school students; anxiety is more pronounced in those with poorer social skills and higher levels of smartphone addiction.
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BibTeX
@article{jiaxue2026moderating,
title = {{The moderating effect of smartphone addiction on the relationship between social skills and anxiety among left-behind secondary school students}},
author = {LIU Jia-Xue and LI Xiao-Wu and ZHOU Qin and SONG Li and YUE Zeng-He and QIAN Yu-Xin and KE Xiao-Yan},
journal = {中国当代儿科杂志},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.7499/j.issn.1008-8830.2603084},
url = {https://doi.org/10.7499/j.issn.1008-8830.2603084},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - The moderating effect of smartphone addiction on the relationship between social skills and anxiety among left-behind secondary school students
AU - LIU Jia-Xue
AU - LI Xiao-Wu
AU - ZHOU Qin
AU - SONG Li
AU - YUE Zeng-He
AU - QIAN Yu-Xin
AU - KE Xiao-Yan
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/23
JO - 中国当代儿科杂志
DO - 10.7499/j.issn.1008-8830.2603084
UR - https://doi.org/10.7499/j.issn.1008-8830.2603084
AB - ObjectiveTo examine the moderating effect of smartphone addiction on the relationship between social skills and anxiety among left-behind secondary school students.MethodsA cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted among 1 522 students from six secondary schools in Jiangsu Province between November 2023 and April 2024. According to left-behind status, students were classified into a left-behind group (n=550, 36.14%) and a non-left-behind group (n=972, 63.86%). Social skills, anxiety, and smartphone addiction were assessed using the Chinese version of the Social Skills Improvement System Rating Scales (SSIS-RS-C), the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED), and the Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version (SAS-SV), respectively, and differences between the two groups were compared. Latent profile analysis was used to identify latent profiles of social skills among left-behind students. Hierarchical linear regression and the Johnson-Neyman method were used to examine the moderating effect of smartphone addiction on the relationship between social skills and anxiety.ResultsCompared with the non-left-behind group, the left-behind group had higher scores for smartphone addiction and anxiety and lower scores for social skills (P<0.05). The total SSIS-RS-C score negatively predicted the total SCARED score (β=-0.305, P<0.05), whereas the total SAS-SV score positively predicted the total SCARED score (β=0.189, P<0.05). The interaction between the total SSIS-RS-C score and the total SAS-SV score negatively predicted the total SCARED score (β=-0.138, P<0.05). Latent profile analysis identified three profiles of social skills among left-behind students: good, average, and deficient. In the average and deficient profiles, when the total SAS-SV score exceeded 24.37 and 31.27, respectively, the total SSIS-RS-C score was negatively associated with the total SCARED score (B=-0.027 and -0.030, respectively; both P<0.05), and this negative association strengthened as the total SAS-SV score increased.ConclusionsSmartphone addiction moderates the relationship between social skills and anxiety among left-behind secondary school students; anxiety is more pronounced in those with poorer social skills and higher levels of smartphone addiction.
SN - 1008-8830
SN - 2096-9228
ER -