Psychology Research and Behavior Management (Oct 2023)
A Cross-Sectional Association Between Screen-Based Sedentary Behavior and Anxiety in Academic College Students: Mediating Role of Negative Emotions and Moderating Role of Emotion Regulation
Abstract
Xili Wen,1 Yujun Cai,1 Kai Li,1 Zisu Wang,1 Weiyi Zhang,1 Man Qin2 1School of Physical Education, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 2Shanghai Lixin University of Accounting and Finance, Shanghai, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Man Qin, Shanghai Lixin University of Accounting and Finance, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected]: The study aims to explore the relationship and potential mechanisms between screen time and anxiety and have a clear understanding of the role of negative emotions and emotion regulation, thus providing guidance for Chinese college students to improve mental health.Methods: We conducted a questionnaire survey by selecting 1721 academic college students from 6 colleges and universities in 5 provinces in China, and the data were analyzed through the Process program of SPSS for mediating effect and moderating effect.Results: There is a significant positive relationship between screen time and anxiety, negative emotions play a mediating role between the two (indirect effect = 0.32, p < 0.001), mediating effect accounts for 59.88% of the total effect, and emotion regulation regulates the direct relationship between screen time and anxiety (interaction effect = 0.027, p < 0.001).Conclusion: This study sheds light on the potential mechanisms by which screen time affects anxiety in academic college students, providing a fresh perspective on anxiety reduction. Screen time positively affects anxiety levels, where negative emotions have a mediating role and emotion regulation has a moderating role. In the future, we can control screen ++time, increase physical activities, reduce negative emotions, and improve the emotional regulation ability to relieve anxiety, so as to improve the mental health of academic college students, and expect to have a positive impact on future learning, life, and planning.Keywords: college students, sedentary behavior, anxiety, negative emotions, emotion regulation
