The influence of mobile phone self-expansion on psychological richness: a moderated mediation model

Objective Against the background of the widespread use of smartphones and the rising attention to positive psychology, this study examined the impact of mobile phone self-expansion on college students’ psychological richness, as well as the mediating mechanism of core self-evaluation and the boundary condition of refusal self-efficacy. Methods Using a cross-sectional quantitative design, 523 college students were surveyed with the Mobile Phone Self-Expansion Scale, Psychological Richness Questionnaire, Core Self-Evaluation Scale, and Refusal Self-Efficacy Scale. Data were analyzed using SPSS 26.0 and Hayes’s PROCESS macro (version 3.5). Results (1) Mobile phone self-expansion significantly and positively predicted psychological richness; (2) Core self-evaluation partially mediated the relationship between mobile phone self-expansion and psychological richness; (3) Refusal self-efficacy moderated the first half of the mediation model: the positive predictive effect of mobile phone self-expansion on core self-evaluation was enhanced as refusal self-efficacy increased, and this effect was only significant when refusal self-efficacy was above a certain threshold. Conclusion Mobile phone self-expansion affects psychological richness both directly and indirectly through core self-evaluation, and this indirect effect is conditional on refusal self-efficacy. This study enriches the research on the consequences of mobile phone self-expansion and the antecedents of psychological richness.