Mobile Phone Addiction, Interaction Anxiousness, and Eating Behavior in Nursing Students: A Moderation Analysis

Background: Mobile phone addiction could be associated with insufficient mastery of medical knowledge among nursing students, leading to a significant decline in the quality of future nursing care. Poor eating behavior among nursing students may potentially impact the quality of care they provide in future healthcare roles. This study aimed to identify different patterns of mobile phone addiction and evaluate the impact of interaction anxiousness on the association of mobile phone addiction and eating behavior. Methods: Participants completed assessments including the Mobile Phone Addiction Index, Interaction Anxiousness Scale, and The Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire for undergraduate students. The analysis methods included latent profile analysis and examinations of moderating factors. Results: Two latent mobile phone addiction types were identified: Low-mobile phone addiction (48.1%, N = 210) and high-mobile phone addiction (51.9%, N = 227). In high-mobile phone addiction subgroup, high interaction anxiousness (from -1.05 to 4.00) exacerbates the relationship between mobile phone addiction and eating behavior while high interaction anxiousness (from 3.23 to 5.03) weakens the association in low-mobile phone addiction subgroup. Conclusions: Mobile phone addiction significantly affects eating behavior and nursing student exhibit heterogeneous in mobile phone addiction. Different moderation effects of interaction anxiousness are recognized in different mobile phone addiction profiles.