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

doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-3403653/v1

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

https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3403653/v1

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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.

Shyness

Smartphone addiction

Maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies

Experiential avoidance

Online social support

Smartphones have become an indispensable part of our daily lives due to their connectivity and portability. The number of Chinese mobile internet users has reached 1.067 billion, increasing by 35.49 million in a year as of December 2022 (China Internet Network Information Center, 2023). China has the highest rates in smartphone addiction among the 24 countries according to a meta-analysis (Olson et al., 2022). With the prevalence of smartphones, adolescents’ smartphone addiction has also become a major concern. About 80% of Chinese adolescents own smartphones and nearly 40% of them use smartphones without restrictions, and 22.8% of adolescents are addicted to smartphones (Gong et al., 2022; Wang et al., 2019). Smartphone addiction is also called “problematic smartphone use”, which is defined as a behavior characterized by excessive use of smartphones and excessive psychological attachment on smartphones (Lapierre et al., 2019). Importantly, smartphone addiction is related to many negative psychological consequences such as learning burnout, anxiety, and depression (Wang et al., 2023; Busch & McCarthy, 2021). Therefore, it is of theoretical and practical importance to explore the factors that may contribute to adolescents’ smartphone addiction. Previous research has demonstrated that shyness significantly affects adolescents’ smartphone addiction (Hong et al., 2019). However, little is known about the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying this association. Therefore, the present study aimed to replicate the association between shyness and adolescents’ smartphone addiction and extend previous studies by investigating the mediating effects of maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and experiential avoidance and the moderating effect of online social support in this relationship.

Shyness and adolescents’ smartphone addiction

Shyness reflects a person’s nervous and embarrassed reactions to strangers or acquaintances in social situations, as well as worry and discomfort when faced with a new social environment and social evaluation (Rubin et al., 2009). Shyness is especially prominent during adolescence (Hassan et al., 2021b) and adolescents in East Asia are more likely to be shy and anxious in stressful setting than adolescents in the West (Kong et al., 2022; Chen et al., 2019). Shyness significantly increases adolescences’ susceptibility to smartphone addiction (Hong et al., 2019). According to social compensation theory, adolescents with high shyness use their smartphones more frequently to compensate for their anxiety in real interactions (Desjarlais & Willoughby, 2010). Specifically, shy adolescents choose to avoid social engagement (Coplan et al., 2021). However, network environment provides a secure virtual space for shy adolescents to communicate, enhancing their comfort and social control without the fear of evaluation (Tian et al., 2017). Shy adolescences who rely too much on the compensation of the smartphones without restraint are more likely to develop into smartphone addiction. Consistent with this view, previous studies have demonstrated that shyness is a powerful predictor of smartphone addiction (Hong et al., 2019; Ang et al., 2018). A longitudinal study also indicates that shyness positively predicts adolescents’ internet addiction after 12 months (Tian et al., 2021). Therefore, we assumed that shyness would be a significant risk factor for adolescents’ smartphone addiction.

The mediating role of maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies

Maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies refer to negative cognitive strategies for responding to stressful events and processing emotionally arousing information, including rumination, catastrophizing, self-blame, and blaming others (Garnefski et al., 2001). There is evidence that maladaptive emotion regulation strategies have a conspicuous role in developing internet addiction (Guo et al., 2023). The interaction of person-affect-cognition-execution (I-PACE) model can be used to explain the mediating role of maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies in the relationship between shyness and smartphone addiction (Brand et al., 2019). This model suggests that internet addiction is the result of the effects of a person’s characteristics, affective and cognitive responses, and executive functions. In the process, affective and cognitive responses are considered to mediate the relationship between psychological characteristics and internet addiction. Specifically, shy adolescents are more likely to adopt maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies, but such strategies fail to deal with stressful events and release negative emotions (Zhang et al., 2022). Understandably, adolescents then bury themselves in smartphones to escape from reality and alleviate anxiety (Zsido et al., 2021).

To our knowledge, no previous studies have examined whether maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies would mediate the relationship between shyness and smartphone addiction. Although there is less direct evidence to support the mediating effect of maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies, some indirect evidence supports this mediating effect. First, shyness positively impacts maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies. Previous empirical research has supported this view. For instance, shy children tend to use maladaptive coping styles in stressful social settings (Ding et al., 2014; Markovic et al., 2013). Likewise, shyness is associated with poorer emotion regulation in adolescence (Hassan et al., 2021b). Moreover, shyness influences undergraduate students’ internet use through the mediating effect of maladaptive cognitions (Tian et al., 2017). Second, maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies significantly and positively predict smartphone addiction (Elhai et al., 2018). For instance, maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies are positively associated with smartphone addiction among adolescents and adults (Guo et al., 2023; Zsido et al., 2021). Moreover, maladaptive emotion regulation strategies trigger adolescents’ internet gaming addiction (Zhou et al., 2023; Wu et al., 2022). Thus, it is reasonable to expect that maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies would mediate the relationship between shyness and adolescents’ smartphone addiction.

The mediating role of experiential avoidance

Experiential avoidance is defined as reluctance to stay in contact with unpleasant internal experiences (emotions, thoughts, memories and physical feelings) coupled with reactions to reduce the frequency or effect of these distressing experiences (Hayes et al., 2006). Based on the social adaptation model (Henderson & Zimbardo 1999), shy adolescents hold the negative cognition of the environment and others and they tend to avoid social situations. Although experiential avoidance helps adolescents succeed in alleviating initial discomfort, it’s rebound effect probably ultimately magnifies negative emotions and further exacerbating experiential avoidance patterns (Hayes et al., 1996). In this sense, adolescents are more likely to use their smartphones to avoid real-life problems or to relieve negative feelings according to social compensation theory (Desjarlais & Willoughby, 2010). Therefore, there is theoretical reason for expecting the mediating role of experiential avoidance in the link between shyness and smartphone addiction. In the following section, this view would be supported by some indirect evidence.

First, shyness is motivation of social withdrawal (Coplan et al., 2021). That is, shyness is expressed as avoidance, inhibition and/or withdrawn behaviors in social situation (Baardstu et al., 2022; Tang et al., 2017). Consistent with this view, shyness is positively associated with adolescents’ avoidance (Hassan et al., 2021a; Eggum-Wilkens et al., 2020). Second, experiential avoidance positively predicts adolescents’ smartphone addiction. Adolescents addicted to online games have high emotion avoidance and experiential avoidance plays an important role in developing internet addiction (Ahmed et al., 2022; Chou et al., 2017). Results from longitudinal studies also support that avoidance is positively associated with adolescents’ smartphone addiction and problematic internet use (Lin, 2022; Cheng et al., 2015). Furthermore, a systematic literature review based on 26 empirical studies has shown that avoidance coping is a predictor of problematic online gaming (Melodia et al., 2020). Consequently, it is reasonable to expect that experiential avoidance would mediate the association between shyness and adolescents’ smartphone addiction.

The multiple mediation model

The current study would form a multiple mediation model to simultaneously examine the mediating roles of both maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and experiential avoidance in the relationship between shyness and smartphone addiction. There are three hypotheses about the mediation model. The first hypothesis is the parallel mediation model. Maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies are one reason for developing smartphone addiction and experiential avoidance is another reason for smartphone addiction (Zsido et al., 2021; Tian et al., 2017; Chou et al., 2017). The second hypothesis is the sequential mediation model. Individuals accustomed to adopt maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies are more likely to avoid unpleasant experiences (Kashdan et al., 2006). Maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies are positively associated with adolescents’ experiential avoidance (Venta et al., 2013). This argument is consistent with the interaction of person-affect-cognition-execution model (Brand et al., 2019). In other words, smartphone addiction results from the effects of shyness, maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies, and experiential avoidance. In this sense, the link between shyness and smartphone addiction would be mediated sequentially by maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and experiential avoidance. The third hypothesis is the mixed mediation model. It means that the link between shyness and smartphone addiction is mediated by maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and experiential avoidance in both parallel and sequential fashion. Given the above previous studies, we proposed that mediators of maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and experiential avoidance would work by a way of the third hypothesis.

The moderating role of online social support

Although shyness may increase the risk of smartphone addiction through the mediating roles of maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and experiential avoidance, not all shy adolescents homogeneously display high levels of smartphone addiction. Heterogeneity of outcomes may originate from potential moderating variables. Therefore, the present study would examine whether the direct and indirect links between shyness and smartphone addiction via maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and experiential avoidance would be moderated by online social support.

Online social support refers to the sense of identity and belonging that individuals feel during a process of emotion, information, and material exchange in online interpersonal interactions (Zheng et al., 2021). Shy adolescents perceive less social support in social situation (Appel & Gnambs, 2019). The emotional needs of shy adolescents to maintain social relationships with others can prompt them to seek online social support (Brailovskaia et al., 2019). Additionally, there are considerable studies that consistently indicate online social support promotes psychological dependence on social media use (Fang et al., 2020b; Brailovskaia et al., 2019; Mazzoni et al., 2016). According to the buffering model of social support (Cohen & Wills, 1985), social support is used as a protective factor to buffer the influence of cognitive system on behavioral system and promote the psychological development of individuals. Online social support has two types of moderation patterns: the risk-buffering model and the reverse risk-buffering model (Fang et al., 2020a). In other words, online social support can buffer or strengthen the negative effect of risk factors. For instance, Cole et al. (2017) suggest that online social support attenuates the adverse effects of peer victimization on depressive thoughts, whereas Fang et al. (2020a) find that online social support exacerbates the pernicious effects of cybervictimization on rumination. These two empirical studies support the risk-buffering and reverse risk-buffering roles of online social support, respectively.

To our knowledge, no research has examined how shyness and online social support interact to influence adolescents’ smartphone addiction. On the one hand, online social support is a protective factor that may attenuate the negative impact of shyness on adolescents’ smartphone addiction. On the other hand, online social support may exacerbate the association between shyness and smartphone addiction. Consequently, the current study explored whether risk-buffering model or reverse risk-buffering model of online social support would be more applicable.

The current study

In summary, the purposes of the current study were to examine four questions. First, we aimed to test whether shyness would significantly and positively predict adolescents’ smartphone addiction. Second, we tested the mediators of maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and experiential avoidance in the relationship between shyness and adolescents’ smartphone addiction. Third, we established a multiple mediation model to examine the mixed mediating role of maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and experiential avoidance (Fig. 1). Fourth, we explored whether online social support would moderate the direct and indirect links between shyness and adolescents’ smartphone addiction.

Participants

We recruited participants from a high school in Shanxi province, China. In total, 513 adolescents (246 males and 267 females) participated in this study. The mean age of the participants was 16.16 years (SD = 0.93), ranging from 14 to 19 years. For the total sample, 203 adolescents from 10th grades, 176 adolescents from 11th grades, and 134 adolescents from 12th grades. Concerning residential status, 260 participants were from urban areas, and 253 participants were from rural areas. Among the adolescents, 116 adolescents were only children, and 397 adolescents were non-only children.

Measures

Shyness. Shyness was assessed by the Cheek and Buss Shyness Scale (Cheek & Buss, 1981). It has been used in Chinese adolescents and showed good reliability and validity (Hong et al., 2019). This scale consists of 13 items. A representative item was: “I have trouble looking someone right in the eye.” Adolescents rated items on a five-point scale (1 = strongly disagree; 5 = strongly agree), with higher total scores indicating higher levels of shyness. In the present study, Cronbach’s α was 0.86.

Maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies. The Chinese version of Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire was used to assess the adolescents’ maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies (Wu et al., 2022). The questionnaire measures four maladaptive strategies (rumination, catastrophizing, self-blame and blaming others). Each strategy contains four items (e.g., “I feel that I am the one to blame for it”). Items were rated from 1 (never) to 5 (always), with higher scores indicating that adolescents were more likely to use this strategy in the face of negative events. In the present study, it’s Cronbach’ s α was 0.83.

Experiential avoidance. Experiential avoidance was assessed by the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-Second Edition (Wolgast, 2014). The questionnaire includes 7 items (e.g., “I’m afraid of my feelings”). Each item was rated on a seven-point Likert-type scale (1 = never, 7 = always). Higher scores indicate higher levels of experiential avoidance. Cronbach’s α was 0.87 in this study.

Smartphone addiction. Smartphone addiction was assessed by the Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version (Della Vedova et al., 2022). The scale included 10 items (e.g., “Having a hard time concentrating in class, while doing assignments, or while working due to smartphone use.”). Adolescents responded using a 6-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 6 (strongly agree). Males are considered smartphone addicted with scores higher than 31 and females with scores higher than 33 (Della Vedova et al., 2022). The higher scores indicate higher levels of smartphone addiction. Cronbach’s α was 0.83 in the current study.

Online social support. Online social support was assessed by a 23-item Online Social Support Scale (Zheng et al., 2021). This scale includes four dimensions: information support (5 items, e.g., “I can get interesting sports and entertainment information from others through networking”), peer support (8 items, e.g., “I get emotional support from my online friends when I am down or upset”), affection support (6 items, e.g., “When I post my success message online, someone will congratulate me”), and instrumental support (4 items, e.g., “I can exchange items with people through the internet”). Adolescents rated items on a 5-point Likert-type scale (1 = strongly disagree; 5 = strongly agree). Higher scores indicate higher levels of perceived online social support. The Cronbach’s α for this scale was 0.9.

Procedure

Ethical approval was gained from the corresponding author’s University Ethics Committee. After informed consent was obtained from adolescents, they filled in the questionnaires about demographics, shyness, smartphone addiction, maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies, experiential avoidance, and online social support in a quiet classroom. All the variables were collected anonymously and voluntarily, and adolescents were free to withdraw from the study at any time.

Data analysis

To verify our hypotheses, we implemented four steps. First, we standardized all data prior to statistical analyses and used SPSS 25.0 to calculate descriptive statistics and Pearson’s correlation between all variables. Second, we used Hayes’s (2013) PROCESS macro for SPSS (Model 4) to separately examine the mediating roles of maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and experiential avoidance. Third, we utilized Hayes’s PROCESS macro for SPSS (Model 6) to examine the multiple mediation model of maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and experiential avoidance in the link between shyness and adolescents’ smartphone addiction. Finally, we explored whether the multiple mediation process was moderated by online social support using Hayes’ (2013) PROCESS macro (Model 92). In addition, sex and age were added to the models as controlled variables.

Descriptive analyses and bivariate analyses

In the current study, 33.14% of male and 31.58% of female adolescents scored over the cut-off value of smartphone addiction. Means, standard deviations, and correlations for all variables are provided in Table 1. Shyness was positively associated with maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies, experiential avoidance, and smartphone addiction. Maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies were positively associated with experiential avoidance and smartphone addiction. Experiential avoidance was positively associated with smartphone addiction and online social support. Online social support was positively associated with maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and smartphone addiction. Online social support was negatively associated with shyness.

Table 1

*Descriptive Statistics and Correlations between Variables*
	M	SD	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
1. Sex	-	-	1
2. Age	16.16	.93	− .07	1
3. Shyness	2.98	.71	.10*	.02	1
4. MCERSs	2.93	.52	− .10*	− .02	.22***	1
5. Experiential avoidance	3.75	1.27	− .006	− .05	.40***	.58***	1
6. Smartphone addiction	3.54	.99	.02	.02	.30***	.40***	.47***	1
7. Online social support	2.94	.67	− .08	− .11*	− .12**	.29***	.13**	.24***	1
Note. MCERSs = Maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies. * p < 0.05; p < 0.01;*p < 0.001. Sex was dummy coded such that 1 = female and 0 = male.

The mediating role of maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies

We expected that maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies would mediate the relationship between shyness and smartphone addiction. To examine this hypothesis, Model 4 of the PROCESS macro was carried out to examine the mediating role of maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies in this relationship. Results indicated that shyness was positively associated with maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies (b = .23, p < .001), after controlling for sex and age. Maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies were positively associated with smartphone addiction (b = .35, p < .001). At the same time, the residual direct effect of shyness on smartphone addiction was still significant (b = .22, p < .001). Thus, maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies significantly mediated the link between shyness and smartphone addiction. The indirect effect of maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies was .08, 95% CI = [.05, .12].

The mediating role of experiential avoidance

Model 4 of the PROCESS macro was also used to examine the mediating role of experiential avoidance in the association between shyness and smartphone addiction. Shyness was positively associated with experiential avoidance (b = .41, p < .001), after controlling for sex and age. Experiential avoidance was positively associated with smartphone addiction (b = .42, p < .001). At the same time, the residual direct effect of shyness on smartphone addiction was still significant (b = .13, p = .002). Thus, experiential avoidance partially mediated the link between shyness and smartphone addiction. The indirect effect of experiential avoidance was .17, 95% CI = [.12, .22].

The multiple mediation model

Model 6 of PROCESS macro was conducted to examine the multiple mediating effects. Sex and age were included as covariates. As shown in Table 2 and Fig. 2, all the pathways were significant. First, the pathway of “shyness → maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies → smartphone addiction” was significant (indirect effect = .04, 95% CI = [.02, .08]). Second, the pathway of “shyness → experiential avoidance → smartphone addiction” was significant (indirect effect = .09, 95% CI = [.05, .13]). Third, the pathway of “shyness → maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies→ experiential avoidance → smartphone addiction” was significant (indirect effect = .04, 95% CI = [.02, .06]). The residual direct pathway of “shyness → smartphone addiction” was significant (b = .14, 95% CI = [.05, .22]). Therefore, maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and experiential avoidance exerted a mixed mediation effect on the association between shyness and smartphone addiction.

Table 2

*Testing the Pathways of the Multiple Mediation Model*
Effect	b	95% CI [Lower, Upper]
Direct effects
Shyness → MCERSs	.23***	[.15, .32]
Shyness → Experiential avoidance	.29***	[.22, .36]
MCERSs → Experiential avoidance	.52***	[.45, .58]
Shyness → Smartphone addiction	.14**	[.05, .22]
MCERSs → Smartphone addiction	.19***	[.10, .28]
Experiential avoidance → Smartphone addiction	.31***	[.21, .40]
Indirect effects
Shyness → MCERSs → Smartphone addiction	.04	[.02, .08]
Shyness → Experiential avoidance → Smartphone addiction	.09	[.05, .13]
Shyness → MCERSs → Experiential avoidance → Smartphone addiction	.04	[.02, .06]
Note. MCERSs = Maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies. * p < .05; p < .01, * p < .001.

Table 3

Testing the Moderating Effect of Online Social Support on the Direct and Indirect Associations between Shyness and Smartphone Addiction via Maladaptive Cognitive Emotion Regulation Strategies and Experiential Avoidance
Predictors	Model 1 (MCERSs)		Model 2 (Experiential avoidance)		Model 3 (Smartphone addiction)
	b	t	b	t	b	t
Sex	− .19	-2.36*	.02	.33	.07	.94
Age	.01	.19	− .05	-1.23	.06	1.41
Shyness	.27	6.42***	.29	7.99***	.18	4.38***
MCERSs			.51	13.68***	.13	2.66**
Experiential avoidance					.31	6.27***
Online social support	.32	7.67***	.02	.43	.18	4.49***
Shyness × Online social support	.01	.34	.03	.77	− .10	-2.58*
MCERSs × Online social support			− .02	− .63	.02	.44
Experiential avoidance × Online social support					.01	.11
R²	.16		.42		.30
F	19.37***		51.76***		24.23***
Note. MCERSs = Maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies. Data has been standardized. p < .05; p < .01; **p < .001.

The moderating role of online social support

We used the Model 92 of the PROCESS to analyze whether online social support would moderate the direct and indirect relationships between shyness and adolescents’ smartphone addiction after controlling for sex and age. Shyness significantly predicted maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies, b = .27, p < .001, but this association was not moderated by online social support, b = .01, p = .73, 95% CI = [-.06, .09]. Similarly, online social support did not moderate the relationship between shyness and experiential avoidance (b = .03, p = .44) and the relationship between maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and experiential avoidance (b = − .02, p = .53). In addition, online social support significantly and positively predicted smartphone addiction, b = .18, p < .001, and online social support significantly moderated the relationship between shyness and smartphone addiction, b = − .10, p = .01. For the descriptive purpose, we used the Johnson–Neyman technique to examine the regions of significance. As shown in Fig. 3, in the area of online social support values less than or equal to 3.48 for which the confidence bands did not contain zero, and the positive relationship between shyness and smartphone addiction was significant but became weaker with the growth of online social support. Furthermore, this positive relationship became not significant for online social support values greater than 3.48 for which the confidence bands contain zero. Thus, the positive effect of shyness on smartphone addiction was weaker and even not significant for adolescents with higher online social support, which supported the risk-buffering model.

Although adolescents’ smartphone addiction research has gained momentum, much less is known about whether and how shyness affects adolescents’ smartphone addiction. We formulated a moderated multiple mediation model to test how shyness worked and whether all adolescents were equally influenced by it. Clarifying these issues is essential for a deeper understanding of the prevention and intervention of adolescents’ smartphone addiction. Our findings showed that shyness positively and significantly predicted adolescents’ smartphone addiction and this relationship was mediated by maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and experiential avoidance in a mixed mediation model. Furthermore, online social support moderated the relationship between shyness and smartphone addiction.

Shyness and adolescents’ smartphone addiction

Consistent with previous studies (Hong et al., 2019; Tian et al., 2021), we found that shy adolescents were more likely to develop high smartphone addiction. This finding is also congruent with social compensation theory (Desjarlais & Willoughby, 2010). Specifically, smartphones provide an alternative communication mean for shy adolescents to compensate their emotional needs (Ang et al., 2018). It is worth noting that shyness has become undesirable with the transformation of Chinese cultural values (Chen et al., 2019). Therefore, shy adolescents are likely to experience peer rejection due to poor social skills (Coplan et al., 2021). Ultimately, negative experiences from social situations promote shy adolescents to rely more on their smartphones.

The mediating role of maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies

Maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies mediated the relationship between shyness and adolescents’ smartphone addiction. This is consistent with interaction of person-affect-cognition-execution model (Brand et al., 2019). That is, shy adolescents are more likely to adopt maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies, which would further lead to smartphone addiction. This finding extends previous studies by uncovering the important role of maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies in helping to explain the relationship between shyness and adolescents’ smartphone addiction.

In addition to the overall mediation results, each of the links in the mediation model is noteworthy. First, shy adolescents tend to adopt maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies. Compared with previous studies (e.g., Ding et al., 2014; Markovic et al., 2013), we extend the existing studies by confirming that shyness is positively associated with maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies. One possible explanation for this relationship is that shy adolescents are more likely to adopt maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies to try to cope with negative emotions when facing social problems in interpersonal situations and these strategies are often ineffective. Second, we found that maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies significantly and positively predicted adolescents’ smartphone addiction. This finding is in line with previous research showing that maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies is a crucial predictor of smartphone addiction (Guo et al., 2023; Zsido et al., 2021; Elhai et al., 2018). According to social compensation theory of internet, when adolescents face negative life events and experience negative emotions, they tend to adopt maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies to alleviate emotional distress and seek inner satisfaction from their smartphones.

The mediating role of experiential avoidance

We also found that experiential avoidance mediated the relationship between shyness and adolescents’ smartphone addiction. Specifically, shy adolescents were more likely to avoid distressing internal experiences, which in turn increased their risk of smartphone addiction. This finding is consistent with the social adaptation model (Henderson & Zimbardo 1999). To our knowledge, the present study is the first to document that experiential avoidance, as a crucial mechanism, mediates the association between shyness and adolescents’ smartphone addiction. Thus, experiential avoidance is not only an outcome that is affected by shyness but also a risk factor that leads to smartphone addiction.

First, shyness positively predicted adolescents’ experiential avoidance. This finding is congruent with previous studies which shows that shy adolescents have a higher avoidance motivation (Hassan et al., 2021a; Eggum-Wilkens et al., 2020). Shy adolescents feel fear and anxiety while interacting with others, and they are more likely to activate instinctive defense mechanisms and choose to experiential avoidance to protect themselves (Henderson & Zimbardo 1999). Second, we found that experiential avoidance was significantly positively associated with adolescents’ smartphone addiction. This is in line with social compensation theory (Desjarlais & Willoughby, 2010) and previous research indicating that adolescents with high experiential avoidance are more likely to be addicted to smartphones (Lin, 2022). A possible explanation is that experiential avoidance not only fails to effectively alleviate negative emotions but also leads to the reappearance of negative emotions (Hayes et al., 1996). The personalized nature of smartphones allows adolescents to download various applications to meet their needs and acquire positive experiences. In addition, experiential avoidance is essentially similar to learned helplessness (Cheng et al., 2015). That is, shy adolescents feel unable to control their social situations and tend to use their smartphones to avoid negative emotions. This behavior ultimately accelerates the progression toward smartphone addiction. Therefore, experiential avoidance is a critical psychological mechanism underlying adolescents’ smartphone addiction.

The multiple mediation model

We found that maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and experiential avoidance exerted a mixed mediation effect on the relationship between shyness and adolescents’ smartphone addiction. First, shyness was significantly associated with maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and experiential avoidance, both of which in turn impacted adolescents’ smartphone addiction. That is, shy adolescents not only tend to adopt maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies, but also are likely to avoid unpleasant emotional experiences (Ding et al., 2014; Eggum-Wilkens et al., 2020). Second, the effect of shyness on smartphone addiction was sequentially mediated through maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and experiential avoidance. These two mediators do not work independently of each other, but instead, maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies are inherently related to experiential avoidance. Specifically, shy adolescents experience more negative emotions in stressful social situations, and they tend to adopt maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies to cope with negative emotions (Ding et al., 2014). However, these ineffective strategies fail to overcome difficulties and control the negative emotions aroused, which force shy adolescents to avoid unwanted internal experiences.

The moderating role of online social support

We also found that online social support moderated the relationship between shyness and adolescents’ smartphone addiction. Specifically, the relationship between shyness and smartphone addiction became much weaker for adolescents with higher online social support. This moderating effect supported the risk-buffering model. One possible explanation is that, shy adolescents with high online social support receive warmth and encouragement from online interpersonal interactions and feel the sense of connected with others. The online positive information about acceptance helps shy adolescents construct positive self-cognitions and diminishes the perceived pressure in social interaction (Cole et al., 2017). Therefore, shy adolescents with high online social support do not escape reality with their smartphones anymore. In contrast, shy adolescents with low online social support not only fail to receive offline social support but also feel excluded from interpersonal interaction in online situations (Brailovskaia et al., 2019). This would make shy adolescents more afraid of social situations and lead them to escape reality by immersing themselves in their smartphones. Hence, online social support is a vital source of social support for shy adolescents and compensates their inadequate in-person social support to protect them from the impact of shyness on smartphone addiction.

Limitations and future directions

Although the current study sheds light on the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying the association between shyness and adolescents’ smartphone addiction, several limitations need to be considered. First, the current study was a cross-sectional design and this limited causal inferences. Future research is necessary to use longitudinal designs to examine the effect of shyness on adolescents’ smartphone addiction. Second, the current study was based on a sample of Chinese adolescents. Adolescents from eastern countries have higher levels of shyness than adolescents in western countries (Kong et al., 2022; Chen et al., 2019). Consequently, future studies should examine the generalizability of our results on diverse samples. Third, all variables were assessed through self-report measures, which might affect the validity of the present study. Thus, future studies should collect more comprehensive information from diverse measures (e.g., third-party observation, smartphone use records or physiological measures) to enhance the reliability of the study. Fourth, the current study treated smartphone addiction as a whole and did not distinguish the specific types of smartphone usage. Future studies should investigate the amount of time adolescents spend different smartphone applications to determine the smartphone use preferences of shy adolescents.

Theoretical and practical implications

Despite these limitations, the present study has important theoretical and practical implications. From a theoretical perspective, first, our findings shed light on the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying the association between shyness and adolescents’ smartphone addiction and expand previous literature. Second, the current study further confirms that online social support interacts with shyness in predicting adolescents’ smartphone addiction. Shy adolescents are susceptible to smartphone addiction. However, smartphones also provide online social support for shy adolescents, serving as a protective function to mitigate their smartphone addiction. The present study advances researchers’ understanding of complexities of smartphone use. From a practical perspective, first, in intervention programs against adolescents’ smartphone addiction, researchers need to consider the vulnerability of shyness to smartphone addiction. The communication skills training is a promising approach to help shy adolescents overcome worry and anxiety in the social situations. Second, there are multiple mediators of maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and experiential avoidance in the relationship between shyness and smartphone addiction. Thus, interventions targeting both mediators simultaneously are more probable to yield desirable outcomes than interventions targeting any single mediator. This can help design effective interventions to reduce the risk of smartphone addiction among adolescents. Third, according to our results, researchers can design targeted intervention measures to help shyness adolescents maximize the benefits of online social support while minimizing its potential risks.

Note

The Y-axis indicates the slope for the effect of shyness on smartphone addiction for each point of online social support brackets. The black bold solid line is the simple regression line showing how the effect of shyness on smartphone addiction by online social support, and the two dashed lines are the 95% confidence bands. CI = confidence interval.

Figure 1

The Proposed Multiple Mediation Model

Figure 2

The Mediating Roles of Maladaptive Cognitive Emotion Regulation Strategies and Experiential Avoidance in the Relationship between Shyness and Smartphone Addiction

Figure 3

The Interaction Effect of Shyness and Online Social Support on Smartphone Addiction by Using Johnson-Neyman Method

Note

MCERSs = Maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies. * p < 0.05; **p < 0.01;***p < 0.001. Sex was dummy coded such that 1 = female and 0 = male.

Note

MCERSs = Maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies. * p < .05; ** p < .01, *** p < .001.

Note

MCERSs = Maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies. Data has been standardized. *p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001.

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Table 1 Descriptive Statistics and Correlations between Variables

	M	SD	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
1. Sex	-	-	1
2. Age	16.16	.93	-.07	1
3. Shyness	2.98	.71	.10*	.02	1
4. MCERSs	2.93	.52	-.10*	-.02	.22***	1
5. Experiential avoidance	3.75	1.27	-.006	-.05	.40***	.58***	1
6. Smartphone addiction	3.54	.99	.02	.02	.30***	.40***	.47***	1
7. Online social support	2.94	.67	-.08	-.11*	-.12**	.29***	.13**	.24***	1

Note. MCERSs = Maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies. * p < 0.05; **p < 0.01；***p < 0.001. Sex was dummy coded such that 1 = female and 0 = male.

Table 2 Testing the Pathways of the Multiple Mediation Model

Effect	b	95% CI [Lower, Upper]
Direct effects
Shyness → MCERSs	.23***	[.15, .32]
Shyness → Experiential avoidance	.29***	[.22, .36]
MCERSs → Experiential avoidance	.52***	[.45, .58]
Shyness → Smartphone addiction	.14**	[.05, .22]
MCERSs → Smartphone addiction	.19***	[.10, .28]
Experiential avoidance → Smartphone addiction	.31***	[.21, .40]
Indirect effects
Shyness → MCERSs → Smartphone addiction	.04	[.02, .08]
Shyness → Experiential avoidance → Smartphone addiction	.09	[.05, .13]
Shyness → MCERSs → Experiential avoidance → Smartphone addiction	.04	[.02, .06]

Note. MCERSs = Maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies. * p < .05; ** p < .01, *** p < .001.

Table 3 Testing the Moderating Effect of Online Social Support on the Direct and Indirect Associations between Shyness and Smartphone Addiction via Maladaptive Cognitive Emotion Regulation Strategies and Experiential Avoidance

Predictors	Model 1 (MCERSs)		Model 2 (Experiential avoidance)		Model 3 (Smartphone addiction)
	b	t	b	t	b	t
Sex	-.19	-2.36*	.02	.33	.07	.94
Age	.01	.19	-.05	-1.23	.06	1.41
Shyness	.27	6.42***	.29	7.99***	.18	4.38***
MCERSs			.51	13.68***	.13	2.66**
Experiential avoidance					.31	6.27***
Online social support	.32	7.67***	.02	.43	.18	4.49***
Shyness × Online social support	.01	.34	.03	.77	-.10	-2.58*
MCERSs × Online social support			-.02	-.63	.02	.44
Experiential avoidance × Online social support					.01	.11
R²	.16		.42		.30
F	19.37***		51.76***		24.23***

Note. MCERSs = Maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies. Data has been standardized. *p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001.

No competing interests reported.

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

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Abstract

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Introduction

Shyness and adolescents’ smartphone addiction

The mediating role of maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies

The mediating role of experiential avoidance

The multiple mediation model

The moderating role of online social support

The current study

Method

Participants

Measures

Procedure

Data analysis

Results

Descriptive analyses and bivariate analyses

The mediating role of maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies

The mediating role of experiential avoidance

The multiple mediation model

The moderating role of online social support

Discussion

Shyness and adolescents’ smartphone addiction

The mediating role of maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies

The mediating role of experiential avoidance

The multiple mediation model

The moderating role of online social support

Limitations and future directions

Theoretical and practical implications

Declarations

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Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

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References

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