Interactive Effects of Resting HF-HRV and HF-HRV Reactivity on Adolescent Mobile Phone Addiction

The present study investigated whether the interaction of resting HF-HRV (high-frequency heart rate variability) and HF-HRV reactivity was associated with mobile phone addiction in adolescents. Physiological and psychological data were collected from 165 Chinese adolescents (80 boys; M_age = 12.68, S_age = 0.69). The results revealed that (1) resting HF-HRV and HF-HRV reactivity were both significantly negatively correlated with adolescents' mobile phone addiction; and (2) resting HF-HRV and HF-HRV reactivity interactively predicted adolescents' mobile phone addiction. Specifically, resting HF-HRV was significantly and negatively related to mobile phone addiction only when HF-HRV reactivity was high. In contrast, resting HF-HRV was not significantly associated with mobile phone addiction when HF-HRV reactivity was low or medium. The findings suggest the importance of considering the combined indices of HF-HRV in predicting adolescent problem behaviors.