THE INFLUENCE OF MOBILE PHONE ADDICTION ON LEFT-BEHIND MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS' SLEEP QUALITY: THE MEDIATOR ROLE OF LONELINESS

Background: Loneliness is reported to be the primary psychological problem among left-behind middle school students, and it can cause serious negative effects on their mental health. However, mobile phone addiction and lack of sleep have also been found in this age group, more frequently. It is still necessary, though, to further explore the relationship between mobile phone addiction and left-behind middle school students' sleep quality and loneliness, Method: 400 left-behind middle school students were selected by using the stratified cluster random sampling method. These students were invited to complete the anonymous self-made general situation questionnaire, the ULS-8, and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and Self-Rating Questionnaire for Adolescent Problematic Mobile Phone Use for related investigation and analysis. Results: the detection rate of mobile phone addiction was 27.5%, demonstrating a significantly positive correlation between loneliness and sleep quality. Loneliness was also found to be significantly positively correlated with mobile phone addiction. Mobile phone addiction was discovered to have a significantly positive correlation with sleep quality and loneliness. Conclusions: loneliness has mediator effects on the link between mobile phone addiction and sleep quality among left-behind middle school students. Mobile phone addiction can have both directly and indirectly affect the sleep quality of these students.