Reciprocal associations of future time perspective and smartphone addiction among Chinese college students: Disaggregation of between-person and within-person effects

Smartphone addiction negatively affects physical and mental health. Future time perspective, a key personality and social cognitive factor, may not only be a protective factor for addictive behaviors but may also be shaped during the development of addiction. Based on three waves of data collected from Chinese college students (N = 622, 46.95% male, Mage = 18.16, SD = 1.49), this study examined the within-person and between-person effects on the associations between future time perspective and smartphone addiction. The results of the traditional cross-lagged model demonstrated a bidirectional negative association between future time perspective and smartphone addiction. The results of the random intercept cross-lagged panel model also indicated a reciprocal negative within-person effect between future time perspective and smartphone use consistently over time while controlling for the significantly negative between-person effect. These findings deepen the understanding of the longitudinal relationship between future time perspective and smartphone addiction.