The Impact of Negative Life Events on College Students’ Depression: The Chain Mediating Role of Mobile Phone Addiction and Academic Burnout

Key Points

• The study investigates how negative life events affect depression among college students and the underlying mechanisms.
• Utilized the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale for measuring depression.
• Employed the Adolescent Life Events Scale to assess negative life events.
• Measured mobile phone addiction using a specific mobile phone addiction scale.
• Assessed academic burnout with an appropriate academic burnout scale.
• Sample included 400 college students for analysis.
• Negative life events, mobile phone addiction, academic burnout, and depression were all positively correlated.
• Negative life events directly and indirectly influence depression among college students.
• Three mediation pathways were identified: individual mediating effects of mobile phone addiction and academic burnout, as well as a chain mediation effect.
• The total indirect effect value across these pathways was 0.11, accounting for 31.43% of the total effects.