Linking academic stress to loneliness, anxiety, and depression: The association of problematic micro-drama use among Chinese university students

OBJECTIVE: Problematic micro-drama use (PMDU) has received increasing attention as micro-dramas have become widely consumed among young adults in China. This study examined the associations between academic stress and PMDU among Chinese university students, explored which dimensions of academic stress were uniquely associated with PMDU, and examined the associations between PMDU and loneliness, anxiety symptoms, and depressive symptoms. METHODS: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among 510 Chinese university students. Participants completed measures of academic stress, PMDU, loneliness, anxiety symptoms, and depressive symptoms. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted while controlling for gender and age. The Benjamini-Hochberg false discovery rate (FDR) procedure was applied to relevant families of multiple tests. RESULTS: Higher academic stress was associated with greater PMDU (β = .447, p < .001). Among the five dimensions of academic stress, learning effectiveness pressure remained significantly associated with PMDU after correction for multiple comparisons (β = .292, FDR-adjusted p < .001), whereas the other dimensions did not show statistically significant unique associations after correction. PMDU was positively associated with loneliness (β = .331), depressive symptoms (β = .323), and anxiety symptoms (β = .305), and all three associations remained significant after FDR correction (all FDR-adjusted p < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Academic stress, particularly stress related to perceived learning effectiveness, was associated with greater problematic micro-drama use among Chinese university students. Higher PMDU was also associated with greater loneliness, depressive symptoms, and anxiety symptoms. These findings identify PMDU as a media-use behavior relevant to both academic stress and psychological well-being, although the cross-sectional design does not establish the direction of these associations.