Within-person reciprocal relations among perceived stress, core self-evaluations, and problematic smartphone use in Chinese adolescents

Abstract

Although prior research has documented associations among perceived stress, self-evaluative resources, and problematic smartphone use, it remains unclear whether these relations reflect stable between-person differences or dynamic within-person processes. To address this gap, the present study used three waves of longitudinal data from 1,474 Chinese adolescents (Mage = 15.50, SD = 0.57; 59.9% female). A random-intercept cross-lagged panel model was employed to disentangle stable between-person differences from within-person processes. Results showed that, at the within-person level, core self-evaluations and perceived stress were reciprocally and negatively associated over time. Higher-than-usual core self-evaluations also predicted lower subsequent problematic smartphone use. Perceived stress did not directly predict later problematic smartphone use; however, a longitudinal indirect association from perceived stress to problematic smartphone use through core self-evaluations was statistically different from zero. The reverse indirect pathway was not supported. These longitudinal associations did not differ significantly by sex and were robust in multiple-imputation and classroom-cluster-robust sensitivity analyses. The findings identify core self-evaluations as a potentially relevant dynamic self-evaluative resource in the longitudinal association between perceived stress and later problematic smartphone use, while not establishing causal mediation.