ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Mindfulness
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1632396
This article is part of the Research TopicApplications of Mindfulness in Media and Communication StudiesView all 11 articles
The Role of FOMO and Mindfulness in the Relationship Between Mobile Phone Dependence and Sleep Quality Among Chinese Youth: A Mediating and Moderating Analysis
Provisionally accepted
- 1Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang Region, China
- 2Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
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Addressing the impact of problematic mobile phone use on sleep quality has become a topic of concern for researchers, but the underlying mechanisms and effective intervention strategies remain under explored. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of cell phone dependence on sleep quality, examining the role of FOMO(fear of missing out) as a mediator and mindfulness as a moderator. A total of 529 participants under 35 years were recruited to complete the survey. The research hypothesis was tested using Model 4 and Model 8 from the PROCESS macro in SPSS. Findings revealed that mobile phone dependence directly impairs sleep quality and indirectly exacerbates sleep disturbances through FOMO. Individual mindfulness traits mitigated the direct adverse effect of phone dependence on sleep quality, negatively moderated the relationship between phone dependence and FOMO. This study expanded the Media System Dependency Theory by introducing a dual-mechanism model of "psychological mediation + individual difference moderation", and examined the moderating role of trait mindfulness within the Chinese cultural context. It is recommended that schools and enterprises incorporate mindfulness training into digital health curricula or daily training programs.
Keywords: Phone Dependence, sleep quality, FoMO, mindfulness, Health Communication
Received: 21 May 2025; Accepted: 13 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Xie and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Mengyu Li, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
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