The Relationship Between Self-Esteem and Mobile Phone Addiction Among Mainland Chinese Adolescents: A Meta-Analysis.

This article presents a meta-analysis examining the relationship between self-esteem and mobile phone addiction (MPA) among adolescents in mainland China. Analyzing data from 64 cross-sectional studies with 45,765 participants, the study found a moderate negative correlation (r = −.25) between self-esteem and MPA, indicating that lower self-esteem is associated with higher mobile phone addiction. The analysis identified age and publication time as significant moderators, with a stronger negative correlation observed in secondary school students compared to college students, and an increasing correlation in more recent studies; however, gender, region, MPA measurement instruments, and publication type did not significantly moderate this relationship. The findings suggest the importance of fostering self-esteem to mitigate MPA risk among Chinese adolescents and highlight the need for longitudinal research to clarify causality.