ABSTRACT
It is crucial to identify protective factors that can resist the adverse consequences resulting from bullying victimization (BV). Based on the conservation of resources theory, this study explores the relationship between BV, smartphone addiction, school belonging and anxiety/depression among Chinese adolescents. A total of 12,009 Chinese adolescents (grades 7–9, 52.66% female) from eastern, central and western China participated in this research. Structural equation modelling and bootstrapping techniques were employed to test the proposed model. The results indicated that BV was positively associated with smartphone addiction and anxiety/depression, while negatively associated with school belonging. Both school belonging and anxiety/depression serve as independent mediators between BV and smartphone addiction, and they also play a chain-mediating role. These findings provide empirical support for the conservation of resources theory by uncovering a potential chain mediation mechanism through school belonging and anxiety/depression and suggest that strengthening students’ school belonging may represent a promising focus for preventing smartphone addiction among bullied adolescents.