The relationship between academic stress and adolescents’ problematic smartphone usage

Background: Problematic smartphone usage among adolescents and young adults is a growing concern.Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether depressive symptoms mediate the relationship between academic stress and problematic smartphone usage, and, more importantly, whether problem-focused coping moderates the association between academic stress and depressive symptoms.Method: The sample comprised of 316 middle school students (46.8% males, M = 13.74 years old, SD = 0.87) in Southwest China. The results showed that depressive symptoms mediated the association between academic stress and problematic smartphone usage.Results: This indirect relationship was conditioned by the degree of problem-focused coping. Specifically, those with lower or moderate levels of problem-focused coping tended to report more depressive symptoms, which in turn led to a higher score on problematic smartphone usage. However, this indirect relationship was weakened for those with higher levels of problem-focused coping.Conclusions: Thus, problem-focused coping should be cultivated when designing mental health interventions to reduce problematic smartphone usage among adolescents.