Personalized recommendation and short-form video addiction tendency: the mediating effect of flow and the moderating effect of self-control

In recent years, short-form video addiction has severely impacted college students’ academic performance, physical and mental health, and social functioning. It has become a widespread public concern that remains unresolved. Existing research has predominantly focused on individual and family environmental factors influencing short video addiction tendency, as a pivotal technological feature of short-form video platforms, the relationship between personalized recommendation and short video addiction tendency still requires further empirical investigation. Guided by the Stimulus-Organism-Response theory and the Individual-Context Interaction theory as the primary theoretical frameworks, this study constructed a moderated mediation model to examine the relationship between personalized recommendations and short-form video addiction tendency, along with the mediating role of flow and the moderating role of self-control. A random sampling method was used to recruit 2,646 college students (1,585 female, 1,061 male; Mean age = 18.83, SD = 1.13) in China to complete online questionnaires assessing personalized recommendations, short-form video addiction tendency, flow, and self-control. Data were analyzed using Model 15 of the SPSS macro PROCESS to test the moderated mediation model. After controlling for gender, age, and average daily usage time, personalized recommendations not only directly and positively predicted short-form video addiction tendency but also indirectly predicted it through the mediation of flow. Self-control moderated both the positive relationship between personalized recommendations and short-form video addiction tendency and the positive relationship between flow and short-form video addiction tendency. This study provides empirical evidence for the positive relationship between personalized recommendations and short-form video addiction tendency. By investigating flow as a mediator and self-control as a moderator, this study contributes to a systematic understanding of short-form video addiction tendency antecedents and offers insights for future interventions. Future research could employ longitudinal or experimental designs to further examine the relationship between personalized recommendations and short-form video addiction tendency, as well as compare the differential effects of perceived versus objective personalization on short-form video addiction tendency.