Mediating effect of anxiety on relationship between mobile phone addiction and locus of control in college students

Objective To explore the relationship among mobile phone addiction, locus of control and anxiety in college students. Methods Using Mobile Phone Addiction Index (MPAI), Internality, Powerful Others, and Chance Scale (IPC), Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), 826 college students were surveyed and the data were analyzed by SPSS17.0 and Amos24.0. Results 73.6% college students had mobile phone dependence. College students being addicted to mobile phone got higher scores on chance(20.17±6.65), powerful others(18.74±7.45) and anxiety(45.95±10.41)than non-cellphone dependent students (chance(17.09±6.67), powerful others(15.03±7.65)and anxiety(40.44±8.29)). There were significant differences(all P<0.01). The scores on mobile phone addiction were positively related to chance, powerful others and anxiety (r=0.289, r=0.261, r=0.267, P<0.01). Anxiety played a partial mediating role between chance and mobile phone addiction and the mediating effect was 26.6%. Conclusion Chance can directly predict mobile phone addiction or indirectly predict cell phone addiction through anxiety. Key words: College students; Locus of control; Mobile phone addiction; Anxiety; Mediating effect