Peer relationship and adolescents' smartphone addiction: the mediating role of alienation and the moderating role of sex

As more adolescents are developing a stronger dependence on their mobile devices, smartphone addiction has become a common concern among both the public and researchers. We aimed to examine whether alienation mediated the association between peer relationships and smartphone addiction in adolescents and whether this mediating process was moderated by sex. Our study included 555 adolescent participants (261 boys and 294 girls). The results indicated that peer relationships were negatively associated with smartphone addiction and that alienation mediated this relationship. Furthermore, sex moderated both the direct and indirect associations between peer relationships and smartphone addiction in adolescents. Specifically, in the second stage of the mediation process, the association between alienation and smartphone addiction became nonsignificant for boys, and the direct association between peer relationships and smartphone addiction became nonsignificant for girls. These findings illustrate that peer relationships are a protective factor for adolescent smartphone addiction and that this dynamic has significant sex differences.