Psychological Well-Being and Short Video Flow in Adolescents: The Moderated-Mediation via Loneliness and Sensation-Seeking

In the digital age, adolescents are increasingly using short video apps. Examining the roles of loneliness and sensation seeking is critical to understanding this behavior. This study aims to examine the relationship between psychological well-being and short video flow in adolescents and to reveal the mediating role of loneliness and moderating role of sensation seeking in this relationship. The cross-sectional convenience sample comprised 373 adolescents aged 12–15 years, with 60.9% girls and 39.1% boys (mean age = 13.2, SD = 0.74), recruited from two schools in Turkey. Participants completed the Short Video Flow Scale, Short Sensation Seeking Scale for Adolescents, Psychological Well-being Scale, and UCLA Loneliness Scale Short Form For Adolescents. The hypothesized mediation pathways were tested using the Hayes PROCESS macro (Models 4 and 14). Loneliness plays a fully mediating role between psychological well-being and short video flow. Sensation seeking plays a moderating role between loneliness and short video flow. The findings suggest that psychological well-being may be indirectly associated with short video flow through these two potential explanatory variables. In particular, higher psychological well-being may be linked to lower sensation seeking and lower loneliness, and these processes may be associated with short video flow in different ways.