Childhood trauma is associated with mobile phone dependency through self esteem and depressive symptoms in adolescents

This study aimed to examine the association between childhood trauma and mobile phone dependency among adolescents, as well as the mediating roles of self-esteem and depressive symptoms in this association. A questionnaire survey was conducted among 3,866 middle school students from Guizhou Province, using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF), the Self-Esteem Scale (SES), the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and the Mobile Phone Addiction Index (MPAI). The results showed: (1) Childhood trauma positively predicted mobile phone dependency in adolescents (β = 0.55, p < 0.001); (2) Self-esteem (β = 0.05, p < 0.001) and depressive symptoms (β = 0.17, p < 0.001) each played a partial mediating role in the relationship between childhood trauma and mobile phone dependency, accounting for 9.10% and 30.91% of the total effect, respectively; (3) Childhood trauma also indirectly influenced mobile phone dependency through a chain-mediating effect composed of self-esteem and depressive symptoms (β = 0.15, p < 0.001), with an indirect impact accounting for 27.27% of the total. Childhood trauma is not only a significant external factor influencing mobile phone dependency among adolescents but also exerts an indirect effect on such dependency by impacting adolescents' self-esteem and depressive symptoms levels.