BMC Public Health. 2025 Sep 25;25(1):3138. doi: 10.1186/s12889-025-24488-0.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Mobile phone addiction has become increasingly severe among college students, adversely affecting their physical and mental health as well as academic performance. Although physical activity (PA) interventions have been shown to alleviate mobile phone addiction, existing research mostly focuses on single-form exercises and lacks in-depth exploration of underlying mechanisms. Therefore, this study aims to examine the effectiveness of a combined intervention involving badminton and fancy rope skipping on improving mobile phone addiction in college students, and further analyze the chain mediating roles of emotion regulation strategies and positive coping styles.
METHODS: This study adopted a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design. A cohort of 195 college students meeting DSM-V diagnostic criteria for mobile phone addiction were enrolled and randomly allocated to one of three groups: a combined intervention group (n = 74), a badminton intervention group (n = 62), and a control group (n = 59). The intervention groups engaged in a 12-week exercise program, 5 sessions per week, each lasting 45 min, while the control group maintained their usual lifestyle. The Mobile Phone Addiction Index (MPAI; Leung) was used to assess mobile phone addiction levels before and after the intervention, while the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ; Gross & John) and Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire (SCSQ; Yaning Xie) were used to measure emotion regulation strategies and positive coping styles, respectively. SPSS 27.0 software was utilized to conduct one — way ANOVA, chi — square tests, simple effect analysis, etc. The PROCESS 4.2 macro program was employed to perform chain mediation effect analysis of emotion regulation strategies and positive coping styles. The statistical significance level was set at P ≤ 0.05.
RESULTS: The combined intervention group showed significant improvements (P < 0.05) in all dimensions of mobile phone addiction-withdrawal, loss of control, inefficiency, and escapism-as well as in total scores, outperforming both the badminton-only and control groups. Emotion regulation strategies and positive coping styles were found to play partial chain mediating roles in the relationship between PA intervention and improvements in mobile phone addiction. The total indirect effect (0.689) accounted for 77.94% of the total effect (0.884). Path analysis further revealed that the intervention indirectly reduced addictive behaviors by first improving emotion regulation strategies, followed by enhancing positive coping.
CONCLUSION: Compared with single-form exercise, combined PA is more effective in alleviating mobile phone addiction among college students, primarily through the chain mediating effects of improved emotion regulation strategies and enhanced positive coping styles. It is recommended that universities and relevant institutions promote combined physical activities to help college students reduce mobile phone addiction and improve their overall well — being.
PMID:40999393 | DOI:10.1186/s12889-025-24488-0
