Perfectionistic Concerns and Mobile Phone Addiction of Chinese College Students: The Moderated Mediation of Academic Procrastination and Causality Orientations

This study aimed to investigate the effect of perfectionistic concerns (PC) on mobile phone addiction (MPA) and the mediating role of academic procrastination (AP), as well as the moderating role of causality orientations (autonomous/controlled/impersonal orientation). A cross-sectional sample of 625 Chinese college students (20.8% male, mean age = 20.47 years old) completed measures of PC, AP, causality orientations, and MPA. We analyzed the survey data using structural equation modeling (SEM) in Mplus 8.0. PC was positively related to MPA. In addition, AP partially mediated this association. The hypothesized moderating effect of autonomous orientation and controlled orientation was not supported. Impersonal orientation moderated the second stage of the mediating effect of AP on the PC–MPA link in that the mediating effect was positive when impersonal orientation was high, while the mediating effect was not significant when impersonal orientation was low. The findings confirm the importance of investigating how individual difference (i.e., PC) contributes to MPA. The implications of the findings for relieving MPA or preventing college students from developing MPA are also discussed deeply and thoroughly.