Mobile Phone Addiction Mediates the Relationship Between Alexithymia and Learning Burnout in Chinese Medical Students: A Structural Equation Model Analysis

BACKGROUND: Learning burnout is a passive mental state among students. It is a common phenomenon that can cause many bad outcomes in Chinese medical students, such as mental disorders and suicide, and its causes are complex. PURPOSE: To analyze the relationship between alexithymia and learning burnout, as well as the mediating effect of mobile phone addiction, and provide clues for future interventions to deal with learning burnout among Chinese medical students. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, convenience cluster sampling was used to produce a sample of 1200 medical universities in Chongqing, China. The Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), Mobile Phone Addiction Tendency Scale (MPATS), and Learning Burnout Questionnaire (LBQ) were used to examine participants. Hierarchical regression was used to analyze the effect of alexithymia and mobile phone addiction on learning burnout. A structural equation model (SEM) with maximum likelihood was used to evaluate the mediating effect of mobile phone addiction on the relationship between alexithymia and learning burnout. The bootstrap method was used to confirm the significance of this mediating effect. RESULTS: The final sample size was 1062, with a valid response rate of 88.5%. The prevalence of learning burnout among Chinese medical students was 39.6%. Results of hierarchical regression revealed that alexithymia (ΔR(2)=0.198, P<0.01) and mobile phone addiction (ΔR(2)=0.021, P<0.01) were independent factors of learning burnout; the SEM revealed that the mediating effect of mobile phone addiction between alexithymia and learning burnout accounted for 25.16% of the total effect of alexithymia on learning burnout; the bootstrap method revealed that the bounds of the CI did not contain 0, confirming the significance of this mediating effect. CONCLUSION: Of the medical students, 39.6% had learning burnout. Alexithymia can positively predict learning burnout, and this relationship is partially mediated by mobile phone addiction.