Introduction: Anxiety can cause numerous cognitive, psychological, and emotional harms in individuals and can lead to various destructive dependencies, such as mobile phone addiction. Accordingly the aim of the present study was to model nomophobia based on self-control and life expectancy, considering the mediating role of frustration intolerance in students with anxiety symptoms.
Methods: The present study was a descriptive-correlational study using structural equations. The statistical population of the study included all students with anxiety symptoms in Isfahan in 2023, of whom 232 were selected through purposive sampling (scores higher than 16 on the Beck Anxiety Inventory). The research tools included the Nomophobia Questionnaire by Yildirim & Correia (2015), the Harrington Failure Tolerance Questionnaire (2005), the Tangi et al. Self-Control Questionnaire (2004), and the Miller Life Expectancy Questionnaire (1988). Data were analyzed at two descriptive and inferential levels using SPSS software version 23 and Smart-PLS software version 22. The results showed that the model of self-control and life expectancy with neophobia had a favorable fit considering the mediating role of frustration intolerance (SRMR=0.053; NFI index was greater than 0.90).
Results:  The results showed that there was no direct significant relationship between life expectancy and nomophobia in students with anxiety symptoms; however, the intolerance of failure was able to play a mediating role in this relationship. There is also a negative and significant relationship between the self-control of students with anxiety symptoms and their nomophobia, and the intolerance of failure has also indirectly played a partial mediating role in this relationship (P≤0.05).
Conclusion: According to the research results, it is recommended that intervention programs be designed and implemented in student counseling centers for students - the most vulnerable populations who face the adverse effects of smartphone use, especially nomophobic behavior.