Smartphone dependence and sport participation among Chinese adolescents: chain mediation by self-control and health beliefs and direct-path moderation by interpersonal support

Objective: This cross-sectional study examined the association between smartphone dependence and sport participation among Chinese adolescents and assessed whether self-control, health beliefs, and interpersonal support were statistically related to this association. Methods: A total of 1,610 students in Grades 5-9 completed self-report measures of smartphone dependence, sport participation, self-control, health beliefs, and interpersonal support. Structural equation modeling with bootstrapping was used to test a theoretically specified chain mediation model involving self-control and health beliefs. A separate simple moderation analysis using PROCESS Model 1 examined whether interpersonal support moderated the direct association between smartphone dependence and sport participation. Results: Smartphone dependence was negatively associated with sport participation. Bootstrapped structural equation modeling indicated three significant cross-sectional indirect associations: through self-control, through health beliefs, and through the theoretically specified sequence of self-control and health beliefs. In the separate moderation analysis, interpersonal support moderated the direct association between smartphone dependence and sport participation. The negative association was more pronounced among adolescents reporting higher interpersonal support, suggesting that general perceived support may not necessarily function as sport-specific support. Conclusion: The findings identify self-regulatory, health-cognitive, and social-contextual correlates of sport participation in the context of smartphone dependence. Given the cross-sectional design, the results should be interpreted as statistical associations rather than causal or temporal processes. They may inform future longitudinal and intervention studies examining whether self-regulatory skills, sport-related health beliefs, and action-oriented support can promote adolescent sport participation.