This study proposed a moderated mediation model to investigate the association between COVID-19 victimization experience and mobile phone addiction, the mediating role of future anxiety, and the moderating role of mindfulness. This study employed the COVID-19 victimization experience scale, the mobile phone addiction scale, a future anxiety scale, and a mindfulness scale in a survey study among Chinese college students; 840 valid questionnaires were received. The reliability and confirmatory factor analysis results showed that all four scales had good reliability and validity. Bootstrap results demonstrated that COVID-19 victimization experience significantly predicted mobile phone addiction in college students (B = 0.202, LLCI = 0.136, ULCI = 0.268). Future anxiety fully mediated the association between COVID-19 victimization experience and mobile phone addiction (B = 0.178, LLCI = 0.136, ULCI = 0.222). Mindfulness moderated the effect of COVID-19 victimization experience on the college students’ future anxiety (B = 0.159, LLCI = 0.007, ULCI = 0.054). A higher level of mindfulness was more likely than a lower level of mindfulness to attenuate the effect of COVID-19 victimization experience on the college students’ future anxiety. These findings broaden our understanding regarding the association between COVID-19 victimization experience and mobile phone addiction and the moderating role of mindfulness.

The COVID-19 pandemic has coincided with a global increase in problematic social networking sites use (PSNSU). By drawing on transactional stress theory and applying the stressor–strain–outcome (SSO) framework, we proposed and verified a chain mediation model to explore the mediating roles of fear of missing out (FoMO) and future anxiety (FA) in the relationship between COVID-19 lockdown stress (CL stress) and PSNSU. Our sample of 670 quarantined college students in China responded to a COVID-19 student stress questionnaire, a social network addiction scale, a fear of missing out scale, and a dark future scale. The results revealed that (1) CL stress significantly positively predicted PSNSU, (2) both FoMO and FA mediated the relationship between CL stress and PSNSU, (3) FoMO significantly positively predicted FA, and (4) a full chain mediation was observed between CL stress and PSNSU.

This study focused on COVID-19 perceived risk and Internet addiction among Chinese college students during the lockdown. On the basis of the Social Cognitive Theory, this study proposed a mediating model to evaluate the mediating role of difficulties in regulating emotion between the COVID-19 perceived risk and Internet addiction. A questionnaire survey was conducted among 690 college students during the COVID-19 lockdown in China. The results showed that the COVID-19 perceived risk was significantly positively associated with Internet addiction (r = 0.236, p < 0.001) and difficulties in emotion regulation (r = 0.220, p < 0.001), difficulties in emotion regulation was significantly positively associated with Internet addiction (r = 0.368, p < 0.001). The COVID-19 perceived risk had a significant and positive predictive effect on Internet addiction (β = 0.233, p < 0.001) among Chinese college students. The analysis of the mediation model showed that difficulties in emotion regulation partially mediated the relationship between COVID-19 perceived risk and Internet addiction (indirect effect value was 0.051 with 95% Confidence Interval ranging from 0.027 to 0.085). The findings not only enhanced our understanding of the internal influence mechanism of COVID-19 perceived risk on Internet addiction but also provided a practical basis for college education works. Finally, discussions and suggestions were provided on the basis of the results.

Based on social cognitive theory and gender differences, this study verified a moderated mediation model to explore the relationship between the COVID-19 related stress (CRS) and social network addiction (SNA) and evaluate the mediating role of fear of missing out (FoMO) and the moderating role of gender. A questionnaire survey was conducted, including 702 Chinese university students.This study used PROCESS to test the hypothesis model.The results showed that the CRS significantly and positively affected the SNA of college students and FoMO played a complementary mediating role. Moreover, the analysis of the moderated mediation model showed that gender moderated the relationship between FoMO and SNA; the effect of FoMO was stronger on the SNA of male college students than that of females. The results not only enhanced our understanding of the internal influencing mechanism of the relationship between CRS and SNA but also considered gender differences. In addition, some suggestions were proposed.

Due to the repeated changes in the COVID-19 pandemic, we live in an era of various uncertainties that raise future anxiety and behavioral addiction problems. According to the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT), the present study attempted to explore the impact of COVID-19 intolerance of uncertainty (COVID-19 IU) on internet addiction (IA) among college students and the mediating role of future anxiety (FA) by constructing a mediating model. A questionnaire survey was conducted on 679 Chinese college students and PROCESS 3.5 was utilized to test the hypotheses. The results indicated that the COVID-19 IU was significantly positively correlated with IA and FA, and FA was significantly positively correlated with IA. COVID-19 IU had a significant positive predictive effect on IA; FA played a complementary partial mediating role between COVID-19 IU and IA. The results supported the PMT, which not only enriched our understanding of FA under uncertain life circumstances, but also deepened our understanding of the potential mechanisms of the effects of IA. Finally, discussions and suggestions were presented based on the results.

To prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, countries around the world adopted varying degrees of lockdown. The lockdowns restricted the freedom of college students, which led to stress and mental health issues. This study constructed a mediating model to explore the relationship between COVID-19 lockdown stress and Chinese college students’ mental health; the mediating role of fear of missing out (FoMO) was also investigated. A 7-item COVID-19 student stress questionnaire (CSSQ), a 6-item mental health scale, and a 10-item FoMO scale were distributed among 695 college students who experienced lockdown in China. The results showed that COVID-19 lockdown stress was significantly and negatively correlated with mental health, significantly and positively correlated with FoMO, and FoMO was significantly and negatively correlated with mental health. COVID-19 lockdown stress significantly and negatively influenced Chinese college students’ mental health directly and indirectly via the complementary partial mediating effect of FoMO. The results intensify our comprehension of the influence of COVID-19 lockdown stress and mental health problems in Chinese college students and also provide practical suggestions for college educators to address such scenarios.