2026/04/14 by Ronghua Zhang, Xiaofeng Guo, Na Yang +1 · 1 voice
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion #Impact of Technology on Adolescents #Perfectionism, Procrastination, Anxiety Studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.5817/cp2026-2-7
openalex publication_date 2026/04/14 · openalex created_date 2026/04/15 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/26
Phubbing, the act of ignoring others in favor of mobile phone use, has become a widespread phenomenon in social settings and poses increasing challenges to college students’ interpersonal relationships. The present study used a three-wave longitudinal design to examine the impact of peer phubbing on relational evaluation, with a particular focus on the mediating role of psychological needs threat, the moderating role of perceived social norms, and the cumulative nature of these effects over time. Data were collected from 593 Chinese college students across three waves spanning six months. The results showed that peer phubbing at earlier time points predicted higher levels of psychological needs threat and lower relational evaluation at later time points, whereas relational evaluation did not predict subsequent phubbing behavior. Psychological needs threat significantly mediated the longitudinal association between peer phubbing and relational evaluation, while perceived social norms did not moderate the effect of peer phubbing on needs threat and relational evaluation. These findings suggest that peer phubbing undermines situational interpersonal relationship experiences regardless of its perceived normative status. Moreover, peer phubbing appears to function not merely as a momentary interpersonal disruption but as a recurring form of everyday social exclusion with cumulative psychological and relational consequences.