Shyness and adolescents’ smartphone addiction: Roles of maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation, experiential avoidance, and online social support

Abstract Although previous research has demonstrated shyness plays a critical role in the development and maintenance of smartphone addiction, the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying this relationship remains obscure. The present study aimed to examine the mediating roles of maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and experiential avoidance and the moderating role of online social support in the relationship between shyness and adolescents’ smartphone addiction. A sample of 513 Chinese adolescents (Mage = 16.16 years, range from 14 to 19) was recruited to complete the questionnaires. After sex and age were controlled, shyness was significantly and positively associated with adolescents’ smartphone addiction and this relationship was partially mediated by both maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and experiential avoidance. The multiple mediation analysis further indicated that maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and experiential avoidance exerted a mixed mediation effect on the relationship between shyness and adolescents’ smartphone addiction. Moreover, online social support significantly moderated the relationship between shyness and smartphone addiction and this relationship is much weaker for adolescents with high online social support. These results contribute to design the effective interventions of adolescents’ smartphone addiction.