Physical activity, psychological resilience, and adolescent mobile phone addiction-a meta-analytic structural equation modeling study.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: With the widespread use of mobile internet, smartphone addiction among adolescents has become a major global public health concern.

METHODS

This study synthesizes empirical evidence to quantitatively examine the relationships among adolescent physical activity (PA), psychological resilience (PR), and mobile phone addiction (MPA), and to explore the mediating role of PR. Following PRISMA guidelines, a systematic search of five databases (PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO, SPORTDiscus, CNKI) yielded 58 relevant articles (63 correlation records across the three relationship pairs), comprising cross-sectional and longitudinal studies with a total sample of 98,946 adolescents and young adults. Traditional meta-analysis and MASEM were combined; a random-effects model pooled effect sizes, and a two-stage structural equation modeling approach tested mediation.

RESULTS

There was a significant negative correlation between PA and MPA (r = -0.225 [95% CI: -0.282 to -0.166]). PA was positively correlated with PR (r = 0.370 [95% CI: 0.250 to 0.479]). PR was negatively correlated with MPA (r = -0.362 [95% CI: -0.518 to -0.184]). Neither Egger's nor Begg's test indicated statistically significant small-study effects for any of the three pairwise relationships. MASEM analysis revealed that PR plays a substantial mediating role, with an indirect effect of -0.120, accounting for 53.3% of the total effect. Substantial heterogeneity was observed across all analyses (I2 > 96%), which was partially explained by educational level, study design and measurement instrument in moderator analyses.

CONCLUSION

PA is associated with lower MPA overall (r = -0.225); in the mediation model the direct effect is reduced to borderline non-significance, with the association substantially (~53%) mediated by psychological resilience. The findings suggest that effective interventions for adolescents and young adults with mobile phone addiction should combine physical-activity promotion with psychological components. However, these recommendations should be considered in light of the predominantly observational evidence base, and future intervention studies are needed to establish causal relationships.

SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view/CRD420261398773, identifier: CRD420261398773.