An increasing number of mobile phone users check their phones at any time and place, even during in-person interactions. Such behaviors that interrupt social interactions have been described as phubbing. The present study focused on phubbing behaviors within the context of parent–child households and aimed to examine the associations among parents' phubbing, the parent–child relationship, children's self-esteem, and problematic mobile phone use (PMPU) by adolescents. The structural equation model results based on the data collected from 1,721 secondary students revealed that parents' phubbing was not only directly associated with children's PMPU but also indirectly associated with PMPU through the mediating roles of the parent–child relationship and children's self-esteem after gender and age were controlled. These findings suggest a possible underlying mechanism for the relationship between parents' phubbing and children's PMPU, and could thus inform interventions to prevent or decrease PMPU among adolescents. Limitations and implications are discussed.

The current study aimed to explore the underlying mechanisms of how interpersonal relationships relieve adolescents’ problematic mobile phone use (PMPU) and to examine the potential mediating roles of loneliness and motivation to use mobile phones. Four thousand five hundred and nine middle school students from four provinces in China were recruited to participate in the investigation. The results showed that the parent–child relationship but not the teacher–student relationship, had a direct and negative effect on PMPU. The parent–child relationship had indirect effects on PMPU through the mediators of loneliness, escape motivation and relationship motivation; the teacher–student relationship had indirect effects on PMPU only through the mediating factors of loneliness and escape motivation. Both parent–child and teacher–student relationships indirectly affected PMPU through a two-step path from loneliness to escape motivation. These findings highlight the more salient role of the parent–child relationship than that of the teacher–student relationship in directly alleviating PMPU and indicate that satisfying interpersonal relationships can buffer adolescents’ PMPU by lowering their loneliness and motivation to use mobile phones.

The present study aimed to understand the impact of different coping methods endorsed by Chinese college students during COVID-19 through the examination of the mediating role of perceived stress. We recruited a total of 492 undergraduate students to complete an online survey from May to June 2020. The results of structural equation modeling indicated that perceived stress was a significant mediator in the association between different coping styles and psychological distress. Three coping styles, including problem-focused, adaptive emotion-focused, and maladaptive emotion-focused coping styles were all significantly correlated with psychological distress. Perceived stress significantly mediated the association between the three coping styles and psychological distress. The results indicated a full mediation model in which problem-focused coping and adaptive emotion-focused coping affected psychological distress entirely through the mediation of perceived stress. Maladaptive emotion-focused coping positively predicted perceived stress, which in turn positively predicted psychological distress through a partial mediation model. We discuss the implications of these findings and offer suggestions for future research.

Previous studies have highlighted the impacts of environmental factors (teacher’s autonomy support) and individual factors (self-efficacy, intrinsic value, and boredom) on academic engagement. This study aimed to investigate these variables and examine the relations among them. Three structural equation models tested the multiple mediational roles of self-efficacy, intrinsic value, and boredom in the relation between teacher’s autonomy support and behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement, respectively, in math. A total of 637 Chinese middle school students (313 males, 324 females; mean age = 14.82) voluntarily participated in this study. Results revealed that self-efficacy, intrinsic value, and boredom played important and mediating roles between perceived teacher’s autonomy support and student engagement. Specifically, these three individual variables partly mediated the relations between perceived teacher’s autonomy support and behavioral and cognitive engagement, while fully mediating the relation between perceived teacher’s autonomy support and emotional engagement. These findings complement and extend the understanding of factors affecting students’ engagement in math.

In response to reports of people experiencing varying levels of anxiety and depression during the outbreak of COVID-19, researchers have argued that exposure to related information on social media is a salient contributing factor. Based on the integrated model of ruminative response style and the diathesis–stress model, it has been suggested that incorporating rumination and mindfulness may elucidate the potential mechanism underlying the aforementioned association. This study aimed to examine the mediating role of rumination and the moderating role of mindfulness in the association between social media exposure (SME) to COVID-19 information and psychological distress. The results from online questionnaire responses of 439 college students from two universities in Wuhan, Hubei Province, showed that rumination mediated the association between SME and psychological distress. Furthermore, mindfulness was revealed as a protective factor that buffered the adverse effect of SME on psychological distress through rumination. These findings advance a better understanding of the formation process of psychological symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic and provide insights regarding effective interventions for adverse mental health consequences in college students.