How are smartphones associated with adolescent materialism?

This study examined whether smartphone addiction predicted adolescent materialism and whether self-esteem mediated the relation between smartphone addiction and adolescent materialism. Moreover, this study tested whether this mediating process was moderated by student-student relationship. Our theoretical model was tested among 748 middle school students in China (mean age = 16.80, standard deviation = .73). The results indicated that smartphone addiction was positively related to adolescent materialism. Mediation analysis showed that self-esteem mediated this relation. Moderated mediation test further revealed that the mediated path was moderated by student-student relationship.