Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Mobile Phone Dependence, and Academic Boredom in Adolescents During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has threatened adolescents’ mental health and even elicited their academic problems. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the most common negative psychological reactions, and academic boredom is a typical academic problem to the pandemic. PTSD might be related to academic boredom, but the underlying mechanism of this potential relation in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic remains unclear. Aims: Under the framework of the job demands–resources model and the model of compensatory internet use, this study aims to examine the mediating role of mobile phone dependency in the relation between PTSD and academic boredom. Methods: Six hundred and thirty-one middle school students in Hubei Province were investigated using self-report questionnaires. SPSS19.0 and Mplus7.0 were used for data analysis. Results: PTSD symptoms were associated positively with academic boredom, and mobile phone dependence played a mediating role in the relation between PTSD and academic boredom. Specifically, adolescents with severe PTSD symptoms tended to report greater dependency on mobile phones, and hence show higher levels of boredom in learning. Conclusion: PTSD symptoms of adolescents directly aggravated their academic boredom, and indirectly affected academic boredom by increasing their dependence on mobile phones.