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Prior studies on the influencing factors of mobile phone addiction have mainly focused on the individual factors and family-related environmental factors. Few studies, however, have investigated the roles of peer factors, especially the interactive roles of peer factors and individual factors in adolescent mobile phone addiction. The present study examined the relationship between peer victimization and mobile phone addiction and the moderating roles of self-compassion and gender. In two high schools, cluster random sampling method was used to choose two classes in each grade from grade 7 to grade 12. A sample of 1265 adolescents completed the anonymous self-report survey. Results showed that peer victimization was positively associated with mobile phone addiction. Self-compassion moderated the association between peer victimization and mobile phone addiction, with this association being weaker for adolescents with higher levels of self-compassion. Gender also moderated the association between peer victimization and mobile phone addiction, with this association being stronger in girls than in boys. Moreover, there were significant gender differences in the protective effect of self-compassion, in that the moderating effect of self-compassion was stronger in boys than in girls. The findings highlight the unique and interactive roles of peer victimization, self-compassion, and gender in predicting adolescent mobile phone addiction. Limitations and implications are discussed.

Background Sleep quality plays a crucial role in children’s physical and mental health. Prior research has documented that parenting styles are closely associated with children’s sleep quality. However, the psychological processes underlying this relationship are less investigated. Objective Based on parental acceptance-rejection theory and the psychobiological inhibition model of insomnia, the current study aimed to examine the mediating roles of mindfulness and loneliness in the associations between parenting styles (i.e., parental warmth and parental rejection) and children’s sleep quality. Methods A questionnaire survey regarding parenting styles, mindfulness, loneliness, and sleep quality was administered to 475 Chinese children (Mage = 10.68 years, SDage = 1.15). Results Parental warmth was negatively associated with poor sleep quality, and parental rejection was positively associated with poor sleep quality. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis indicated that (a) loneliness, but not mindfulness, mediated the association between parental warmth and children’s sleep quality, and (b) mindfulness and loneliness exerted both unique and sequential mediating effects on the association between parental rejection and children’s sleep quality. Conclusion These findings shed light on possible mechanisms that can account for the associations between parenting styles and children’s sleep quality, and have implications for intervention strategies aimed at improving children’s sleep quality.

Mobile phone addiction has gained much research attention. Previous studies have primarily focused on college students, while there have been numerous calls for efforts to better understand mobile phone addiction in adolescents. Moreover, previous research has mainly focused on individual factors of mobile phone addiction; however, less is known about the effect of family factors and the underlying mechanisms. The present study tested the effect of family dysfunction on adolescent mobile phone addiction and explored how and when family dysfunction was associated with adolescent mobile phone addiction. A cross-sectional questionnaire survey regarding family dysfunction, mobile phone addiction, social anxiety, and mindfulness was administered to 1020 Chinese adolescents. Results showed that social anxiety partially mediated the association between family dysfunction and mobile phone addiction. In addition, both the direct association between family dysfunction and mobile phone addiction and the indirect association through social anxiety were moderated by mindfulness. These two links were weaker for adolescents with high mindfulness than for those with low mindfulness. The present study extends previous research by linking family dysfunction to adolescent mobile phone addiction and uncovering how and when family dysfunction is associated with adolescent mobile phone addiction. These results have important implications for the prevention and intervention of adolescent mobile phone addiction.