With the widespread popularity of the internet, smart phones have evolved into the most advanced and vital communication tool in the world today. According to BankMyCell data, as of April 2021, the number of global smartphone users has reached 3.8 billion, accounting for 48.33% of the total global population, compared with 2016, the number of smart phone users has increased sharply by 1.3 billion[]. In addition, the Emergency Management Blue Book: China Emergency Management Development Report (2022) also pointed out that the phenomenon of smart phone addiction has become a global universal problem, especially among young people.The survey data about the age of Internet users in 2017 showed that young Internet users aged 10–39 years old are the main force of China's Internet users, accounting for 73.7% of the total number of Internet users, of which the age group of 20–29 years old accounted for the The proportion of Internet users in the age group of 20–29 years is the highest, reaching 30.3% []. A recent survey in 2022 showed that the rate of smart phone addiction among Chinese college students is about 36.6% []. Excessive use of smart phones has had a far-reaching impact on people's habits, behaviors, and health. Excessive use of smart phones over a long period of time or frequent use of smart phones may lead to physical symptoms such as visual fatigue, hearing loss, arm numbness, wrist swelling, cervical spine pain, etc., which in turn affects academic performance and quality of life []. In addition, excessive smart phone use may also lead to the development of health risk behaviors such as sleep disorders and insufficient physical activity in individuals []. Excessive use of smart phones has been attributed to addictive behaviors, stemming from the fact that it has the core characteristics of addiction, such as lack of self-control, tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, and relapse [,], and thus smart phone addiction has become one of the main factors affecting the mental health of college students at this stage.
Stress perception is defined as "a person's feelings or thoughts about the degree of stress he or she is under at a particular point in time or for a particular period of time how much stress he or she is under at a particular point in time or for a particular period of time". It usually stems from the uncontrollable and unpredictable nature of life []." College students are vulnerable to stress in many aspects of their studies and lives. High levels of stress can lead to negative emotions such as anxiety and depression, which are particularly common among college students []. According to the theory of "general stress" [], stress causes problematic behaviors, i.e., negative experiences caused by various kinds of tension or stress. For college students, they have to face a lot of pressures such as adapting to the environment, completing studies, interpersonal communication, love and friendship, and entrepreneurship and employment, etc. These tasks are intertwined, which makes college students have a large stress load []. It has been shown that there is a significant positive correlation between stress perception and the tendency of smart phone addiction [,,]. This also stems from the fact that when college students are faced with stress, they cope with it through smart phone addiction []. In addition, studies have shown that the more stress college students perceive, the more serious smart phone addiction is for those with poor self-control []. In summary, studies have shown that college students' stress perception is closely related to the tendency of smart phone addiction, so this study predicts that stress perception will be a positive predictor of smart phone addiction.
Previous studies have focused on individuals' internal psychological factors, such as stress perception, social anxiety, and psychological states such as autism [,,,]. Meanwhile, research on external factors has also focused on family relationships [], especially parent-child interactions. However, few studies have explored the causes of smart phone addiction in depth from both the dimensions of individuals' implicit and explicit factors. According to the dual-process theory of self-regulation [], human behavior is shaped by both implicit and explicit processes, which go hand in hand and influence each other []. Epiphenomenal processes (e.g., goal-directed behavior, self-control of personal traits, and executive functioning can improve implicit processes, including habit formation and emotional experience []. The episodic system has an important influence on the performance of implicit processes, and this influence depends on the intensity of habits and emotions and the effectiveness of self-regulatory abilities. Although studies have explored the relationship between physical activity and college students' smart phone addictive behaviors, there is still a lack of in-depth understanding of the specific interaction mechanisms between the two. Therefore, this study aims to comprehensively analyze how implicit and exogenous factors of smart phone use work together to contribute to smart phone addiction, and attempts to explore whether physical activity can in turn positively affect smart phone addiction by influencing both implicit and exogenous variables of smart phone addiction.
self-control is the ability to transcend instincts, and self-control enables individuals to support their pursuit of long-term goals [] through conscious efforts that result in inhibiting or altering their instinctual responses, as well as preventing outcomes that are contrary to desired behaviors. Individuals with high self-control have better academic outcomes [], better interpersonal relationships [] and healthier behaviors[] and negatively correlated with transgressive behaviors such as aggressive, antisocial and addictive behaviors []. And according to the resource theory of self-control reveals that the ability of self-control is limited by certain energy resources. Any activity that involves the consumption of psychological resources, such as emotion management, thought control, and behavioral guidance, may trigger the weakening or failure of an individual's self-control ability if a certain resource is excessively consumed []. Meanwhile, the theory of limited self-control also points out that self-control is regarded as a limited energy. When an individual faces stress or stress perception is too high, it depletes self-control resources, which may lead to maladaptive or even pathological symptoms [].
After in-depth research, we found that stress has a significant negative impact on an individual's level of self-control. When individuals face stressful stimuli and negative emotions, their self-control will be hindered, which may lead to an increase in inappropriate behaviors [], such as irrational smart phone use behavior []. Some scholars have pointed out that there is a significant negative correlation between self-control and stress perception and smart phone addiction tendency. Stress perception can significantly and positively predict smart phone addiction tendency through the mediating effect of self-control []. Since long-term consumption of self-control resources can produce self-regulation fatigue, and it has been shown that self-control can negatively predict smart phone addiction [], and self-control can regulate stress perception to psychological fatigue [].
Physical activities are aimed at promoting individual physical and mental health development, with physical exercise as the content and means, and have a positive impact on personal life satisfaction, with a certain intensity, frequency, and duration of body activities[]. Canadian psychologist Davis proposed the cognitive-behavioral model [] at the beginning of the 21st century, and his model attaches great importance to the importance of cognitive processes in the shaping and maintenance of behavior. According to this model, physical activity may reduce smart phone addiction by adjusting an individual's cognitive appraisal of stress. In other words, by engaging in physical activity, individuals may learn healthier and more positive stress coping strategies instead of relying excessively on smart phones as a means of avoiding stress. Studies have shown that physical activity can both reduce negative emotions and relieve stress in college students [], and also directly affect the frequency of smartphone use in college students [], in addition, studies have pointed out that exercise can enhance the human body's dopaminergic signaling ability, which in turn affects an individual's addiction status []. According to the resource theory of self-control [], an individual's self-control is regarded as a limited resource. The phenomenon of smart phone addiction is often associated with a lack of self-control, which makes it difficult for individuals to resist the immediate temptation of smart phones. However, by engaging in physical activity, individuals are able to enhance their self-control resources to more effectively resist such temptations, which in turn reduces over dependence on smart phones. This is further supported by the results of the Evaluation Stroop Intervention Trial, which demonstrated that long-term participation in physical activity can significantly enhance an individual's self-control []. Thus, by enhancing physical activity, individuals can manage smart phone use more effectively while maintaining self-discipline and rationality, thereby maintaining physical and mental health.
The present study
Research on cell phone addiction has gradually increased in recent years, but few studies have examined cell phone addiction in terms of its implicit and explicit factors at the same time. The present study aims to explore the implicit and extrinsic factors of cell phone addiction, and introduces self-control and stress perception as mediating variables, as well as examining the effects of physical activity on cell phone addiction. Based on the above viewpoints, this paper proposes the following hypotheses based on the dual-process theory of self-regulation, the cognitive-behavioral model theory, and the self-regulation resource theory:
Hypothesis 1
physical activity and self-control negatively predict smart phone addiction, and stress perception is a positive predictor of smart phone addiction;
Hypothesis 2
self-control mediates physical activity and smart phone addiction;
Hypothesis 3
stress perception mediates physical activity and smart phone addiction;
Hypothesis 4
self-control and stress perception play a chain mediating role in physical activity and smart phone addiction.