Childhood Unpredictability and Smartphone Addiction in Chinese Adolescents: Mediating Role of Self-Concept Clarity and Self-Control and Moderating Role of Psychological Resilience

As a distal factor influencing adolescents’ psychological development and behavioral adaptation, the question of whether and how childhood unpredictability is associated with smartphone addiction remains unclear. To address this gap, this study examined the mediating roles of self-concept clarity and self-control, as well as the moderating role of psychological resilience, in the relationship between childhood unpredictability and smartphone addiction. Using a random cluster sampling method, 2262 high school students (51.59% girls; Mage = 17.83, SD = 0.77) were recruited to complete relevant questionnaires. Correlation analyses revealed that childhood unpredictability was negatively correlated with self-concept clarity, self-control, and psychological resilience, and positively correlated with smartphone addiction. Mediation model results indicated that childhood unpredictability contributes to higher smartphone addiction both directly and indirectly through the independent mediating roles of self-concept clarity and self-control and a chained mediation pathway from self-concept clarity to self-control. Moreover, the link between childhood unpredictability and self-concept clarity was moderated by psychological resilience. These findings highlight the critical role and underlying mechanisms of childhood unpredictability in increasing adolescents’ risk of smartphone addiction and emphasize that fostering psychological resilience should be a key target for prevention and intervention efforts aimed at mitigating the adverse effects of childhood unpredictability.