Differential associations of exercise intensity, duration, and frequency with smartphone addiction: the mediating roles of mindfulness and anxiety

Objective: This study adopts a specificity perspective of different dimensions of physical exercise to examine the relationships between exercise intensity, duration, and frequency and smartphone addiction among college students, as well as the underlying psychological mechanisms. It further investigates the mediating roles of mindfulness and anxiety, with particular attention to the differences in how these exercise dimensions operate within the model. Methods: Using stratified random sampling, 1,795 college students in Fuzhou, Fujian Province, China, were surveyed. Physical exercise intensity, duration, and frequency were measured using the Physical Activity Rating Scale-3 (PARS-3), while mindfulness, anxiety, and smartphone addiction were assessed using the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), and the Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version (SAS-SV), respectively. Results: > 0.05). (3) Mindfulness mediated the associations across all three dimensions; anxiety mediated only the intensity pathway; and the chain mediation from mindfulness to anxiety was significant for all dimensions. Conclusion: Different dimensions of physical exercise show distinct associations with smartphone addiction among college students. By examining exercise intensity, duration, and frequency separately rather than treating physical activity as a single activity-level indicator, this study provides a new perspective for understanding the psychological mechanisms linking physical exercise and smartphone addiction.