Abstract
The proliferation of short-form videos on social media has become a ubiquitous aspect of contemporary life. However, the pervasive use of these videos may potentially give rise to an addiction-like phenomenon. College students, in particular, have emerged as a significant demographic engaging with short-form videos, prompting a growing interest among scholars in understanding the potential implications of this phenomenon. This study aimed to examine the relationship and mechanism of action between short-form video addiction, anxiety symptoms, coping styles, and learning burnout among college students. The sample was obtained through convenience sampling, and the study utilized data from 523 college students. All variables were measured using empirical questionnaire instruments, and all the instruments had good reliability. Regression analysis was used to test the mediating effect of anxiety symptoms between short-form video addiction and learning burnout. PROCESS macro v3.5 for SPSS (Model 5) was adopted to test the moderated mediation. Results indicated that short-form video addiction was positively and significantly associated with both learning burnout and anxiety symptoms, and that anxiety symptoms mediated the relationship between short-form video addiction and learning burnout. Furthermore, negative coping styles significantly weakened the association between short-form video addiction and learning burnout. These results suggest that educational interventions should integrate digital literacy programs with mental health services to reduce the impact of addiction and provide targeted training in positive coping strategies to prevent learning burnout.