Childhood Trauma and Problematic Smartphone Use Among College Students: The Mediating Roles of Rumination and Social Anxiety

Abstract

Problematic smartphone use (PSU) has become a growing concern among young populations, raising significant issues for their physical and psychological well-being. Guided by Compensatory Internet Use Theory and the Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution (I-PACE) model, this study examined the associations between different forms of childhood trauma and PSU. Participants were 2717 college students (661 males, 22.49%; Mage = 19.81 years). Two chain mediation models were tested, and latent profile analysis (LPA) was employed to capture individual differences from a person-centred perspective. LPA revealed three distinct trauma profiles: low childhood trauma, moderate childhood abuse, and high childhood abuse. Across both variable-centred and person-centred ap-proaches, rumination and social anxiety were identified as mediators linking childhood trauma to PSU. These findings advance understanding of the pathways through which childhood trauma contributes to PSU in college students. By integrating variable- and person-centred approaches, the study highlights the importance of cognitive-emotional mechanisms and provides implications for targeted prevention and intervention strategies.