How does self-esteem affect mobile phone addiction? The mediating role of social anxiety and interpersonal sensitivity

Abstract

Low self-esteem is an important factor influencing mobile phone addiction, which has been well documented. However, little research focused on the mechanism underlying the association between self-esteem and mobile phone addiction. We hypothesized that social anxiety and interpersonal sensitivity may mediate the relationship between self-esteem and mobile phone addiction. Six hundred and fifty three (353 girls among them) college students with the mean age of 19.94 (SD = 1.34) were recruited for the study. Participants completed mobile phone addiction scale, Rosenberg self-esteem scale, the social anxiety questionnaire and interpersonal sensitivity subscale of SCL-90. The findings were as follows: 1) interpersonal sensitivity mediated the relation between self-esteem and mobile phone addiction. 2) social anxiety and interpersonal sensitivity sequentially mediated the relation between self-esteem and mobile phone addiction. The result reveals that self-esteem has indirect effect on mobile phone addiction, which is mediated by social anxiety and interpersonal sensitivity.

Keywords: Interpersonal sensitivity; Mobile phone addiction; Self-esteem; Social anxiety.