Smartphone addiction and self-esteem among university students: a moderated mediation and latent profile analysis.
5 affiliations
- 1Physical Education College, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, China.
- 2Physical Education College, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China.
- 3Physical Education College, Jiangxi Vocational and Technical College of Information Application, Nanchang, China.
- 4Physical Education College, Nanchang Normal University, Nanchang, China.
- 5Physical Education College, Jiujiang University, Jiujiang, China.
Abstract
Objective
This study examined the relationship between smartphone addiction and self-esteem among university students, with a particular focus on the mediating roles of sleep quality and physical learning engagement and the moderating role of gender. Both variable centered and person centered approaches were employed.Methods
In total, 1,130 valid questionnaires were analyzed. The measurement tools included the Mobile Phone Addiction Index (MPAI), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (SES), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-Student (UWES-S). Common method bias tests, descriptive analyses, correlation analyses, and gender difference examinations were carried out in SPSS 26.0. A moderated serial mediation model was estimated using the PROCESS macro with bootstrap resampling, and latent profile analysis (LPA) was conducted in Mplus 8.3.Results
Smartphone addiction was positively associated with sleep quality (β = 0.066, 95% CI [0.048,0.084], p < 0.001), negatively associated with physical learning engagement (β=-0.107, 95% CI [-0.203,-0.010], p = 0.031), and positively associated with self-esteem (β = 0.072, 95% CI [0.038,0.106], p < 0.001). Sleep quality was positively associated with self-esteem (β = 0.402, 95% CI [0.248,0.557], p < 0.001). Notably, the positive associations involving self-esteem were directionally inconsistent with most prior literature and should be regarded as unexpected and exploratory. The indirect effect through sleep quality was significant for both female students (effect=0.026, 95% CI [0.014,0.042]) and male students (effect=0.018, 95% CI [0.008,0.029]), whereas the indirect effect (effect=0.007, 95% CI [0.002,0.014]) through physical learning engagement and the serial indirect effect (effect=0.002, 95% CI [0.001,0.005]) were significant only among male students. However, none of the indices of moderated mediation was significant. Gender significantly moderated the direct smartphone addiction-self-esteem association (β=-0.055, 95% CI [-0.101,-0.010], p = 0.017). In addition, LPA identified three distinct subgroups characterized by different combinations of sleep quality and physical learning engagement, and these subgroups differed significantly in smartphone addiction and self-esteem.Conclusion
The association between smartphone addiction and self-esteem in university students appears to involve multiple pathways, with sleep quality representing a more stable correlate than physical learning engagement. Gender differences may also be relevant to this association. LPA identified three subgroups based on sleep quality and physical learning engagement that differed significantly in smartphone addiction and self-esteem. These findings provide only preliminary and exploratory evidence for a multifactorial understanding of the association between problematic smartphone use and self-esteem, particularly given the cross-sectional design, modest effect sizes, and the counterintuitive direction of some associations.
Related
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BibTeX
@article{zhang2026smartphone,
title = {{Smartphone addiction and self-esteem among university students: a moderated mediation and latent profile analysis.}},
author = {Shiyu Zhang and Xiao Zhang and Siyu Yuan and Tianpeng Yang and Liang Li},
journal = {Frontiers in psychiatry},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1865079},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42835387},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Smartphone addiction and self-esteem among university students: a moderated mediation and latent profile analysis.
AU - Shiyu Zhang
AU - Xiao Zhang
AU - Siyu Yuan
AU - Tianpeng Yang
AU - Liang Li
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/21
JO - Frontiers in psychiatry
DO - 10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1865079
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42835387
AB - Objective This study examined the relationship between smartphone addiction and self-esteem among university students, with a particular focus on the mediating roles of sleep quality and physical learning engagement and the moderating role of gender. Both variable centered and person centered approaches were employed.Methods In total, 1,130 valid questionnaires were analyzed. The measurement tools included the Mobile Phone Addiction Index (MPAI), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (SES), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-Student (UWES-S). Common method bias tests, descriptive analyses, correlation analyses, and gender difference examinations were carried out in SPSS 26.0. A moderated serial mediation model was estimated using the PROCESS macro with bootstrap resampling, and latent profile analysis (LPA) was conducted in Mplus 8.3.Results Smartphone addiction was positively associated with sleep quality (β = 0.066, 95% CI [0.048,0.084], p < 0.001), negatively associated with physical learning engagement (β=-0.107, 95% CI [-0.203,-0.010], p = 0.031), and positively associated with self-esteem (β = 0.072, 95% CI [0.038,0.106], p < 0.001). Sleep quality was positively associated with self-esteem (β = 0.402, 95% CI [0.248,0.557], p < 0.001). Notably, the positive associations involving self-esteem were directionally inconsistent with most prior literature and should be regarded as unexpected and exploratory. The indirect effect through sleep quality was significant for both female students (effect=0.026, 95% CI [0.014,0.042]) and male students (effect=0.018, 95% CI [0.008,0.029]), whereas the indirect effect (effect=0.007, 95% CI [0.002,0.014]) through physical learning engagement and the serial indirect effect (effect=0.002, 95% CI [0.001,0.005]) were significant only among male students. However, none of the indices of moderated mediation was significant. Gender significantly moderated the direct smartphone addiction-self-esteem association (β=-0.055, 95% CI [-0.101,-0.010], p = 0.017). In addition, LPA identified three distinct subgroups characterized by different combinations of sleep quality and physical learning engagement, and these subgroups differed significantly in smartphone addiction and self-esteem.Conclusion The association between smartphone addiction and self-esteem in university students appears to involve multiple pathways, with sleep quality representing a more stable correlate than physical learning engagement. Gender differences may also be relevant to this association. LPA identified three subgroups based on sleep quality and physical learning engagement that differed significantly in smartphone addiction and self-esteem. These findings provide only preliminary and exploratory evidence for a multifactorial understanding of the association between problematic smartphone use and self-esteem, particularly given the cross-sectional design, modest effect sizes, and the counterintuitive direction of some associations.
SN - 1664-0640
ER -