The association between autistic traits and excessive smartphone use in Chinese college students: The chain mediating roles of social interaction anxiety and loneliness.

The team asked Chinese college students to fill out four questionnaires. One measured autistic traits. One measured how much they over-use their phone. Two others asked about social anxiety and loneliness.

They used a chain-mediator model. This checks if autistic traits first raise social anxiety, then that anxiety raises loneliness, and finally loneliness pushes phone use higher.

Students with more autistic traits did use their phones more. The link was not direct. It ran through two steps: higher social-interaction anxiety first, then higher loneliness.

In plain words, feeling nervous around people and then feeling alone steered these students toward excessive scrolling and tapping.

Finkenauer et al. (2012) saw the same pattern earlier. They tracked adults for a year and found that autistic traits predicted compulsive Internet use, especially in women. The new study swaps Internet for phones and adds the anxiety-loneliness chain.

Zhang et al. (2024) used the same college sample and chain-mediator math. Instead of phone use, they looked at prosocial behavior. They found that social-support experiences, not traits, drove helping behavior. Together the papers show autistic traits shape both bad habits and good deeds through social feelings.

Bauminger et al. (2003) watched autistic kids at recess. The kids tried to join peers but still felt twice as lonely. The college survey echoes this: loneliness stays a core pain point from childhood to campus.

If a client scores high on autistic traits, do not stop at screen-time limits. Ask two quick questions: “Do you feel nervous before talking to classmates?” and “Do you feel alone even in a crowd?” If both answers are yes, teach social-entry skills and schedule low-pressure hangouts. Cutting anxiety and loneliness early may prevent the phone from becoming their main friend.