Mindfulness, life skills, and internet time and addiction among high-achieving college students in China: The mediating role of self-control

Internet time and addiction are key factors affecting mental health, academic performance, and social relationships for college students, presenting significant challenges in today’s digital environment. This study investigates the roles of mindfulness and life skills in mitigating these risks, specifically examining whether self-control acts as a mediating mechanism linking these competencies to reduced problematic internet usage. A cross-sectional survey was administered to 218 first-year students at a highly selective institution in China, a member of Project 985. Participants completed validated measures assessing their levels of mindfulness, life skills, self-control, internet time and addiction. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed to test the direct and indirect effects of mindfulness and life skills on internet time and addiction via self-control, controlling for gender and academic discipline. Both mindfulness and life skills were significant positive predictors of self-control (beta = 0.51 and 0.22, respectively). In turn, self-control was a strong predictor of both internet time (beta = -0.34) and addiction (beta = -0.54). Crucially, self-control fully mediated the associations between mindfulness, life skills, and internet time and addiction, suggesting that these foundational competencies help students regulate digital engagement by enhancing their internal capacity for self-regulation. The mediation pathways demonstrated stability across gender and academic discipline. Findings underscore the critical importance of fostering mindfulness and life skills to strengthen self-control, which serves as a protective factor against excessive internet time and addiction among high-achieving college students in China. University programs should prioritize interventions to cultivate these regulatory skills, directly supporting students' internet use and well-being in the digital age. • Mindfulness and life skills reduce internet addiction in college students. • Self-control fully mediates the link between competencies and digital use. • Higher self-control significantly predicts lower daily internet time. • Mindfulness is a stronger predictor of self-regulation than life skills. • Interventions should focus on self-control to mitigate internet risks.