The theoretical backbone of the study is the I-PACE framework, an influential model of specific internet-use disorders. According to this framework, problematic use of digital platforms emerges from an interplay between a person’s vulnerabilities—such as personality dispositions and emotional tendencies—and the way those vulnerabilities interact with situational cues and Gratification-seeking behavior. Short video platforms, with their algorithmically optimized feeds and rapid reward loops, are almost perfectly engineered to exploit such vulnerabilities. Solitude-seeking adolescents, the researchers reasoned, may be particularly exposed: someone who prefers being alone can find in an endless feed a substitute for social interaction, one that demands no social risk and offers continuous novelty.

Preference for solitude is not inherently pathological. Many adolescents who enjoy time alone are engaging in constructive reflection, creative work, or rest. But prior research has linked a strong preference for solitude to mobile phone addiction, and the present study set out to establish whether this disposition prospectively predicts problematic short video use—meaning that loneliness-prone tendencies measured at one point in time forecast problematic behavior measured months later. That prospective design matters, because it moves the analysis beyond a snapshot correlation and closer to a claim about how vulnerability unfolds over time.

To test this, the team ran a two-wave panel study. In March 2025, 256 Chinese adolescents—121 boys, with a mean age of 16.08 years—completed self-report questionnaires measuring their preference for solitude, their trait level of awe, their Dark Triad traits, and their problematic short video use. Roughly nine months later, in December 2025, 253 of the original participants completed the problematic short video use measure again. This nine-month interval gave the researchers a genuine temporal window within which the personality factors measured at the first assessment could influence the development of problematic use captured at the second.

The analytic strategy was a four-step hierarchical linear regression. In the first steps, covariates were controlled and the main effects entered; the later steps introduced the interaction terms—preference for solitude multiplied by awe, multiplied by the Dark Triad composite, and finally the three-way combination of all three. Where interactions proved significant, the researchers probed them with simple slope analyses, which reveal what the solitude-to-problematic-use relationship looks like at high versus low levels of the moderating traits. They also ran separate models for each Dark Triad sub-dimension—Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy—to see whether the composite effect concealed differences among the individual traits.

The core result confirmed the researchers’ starting concern: after controlling for covariates, higher preference for solitude at Time 1 significantly predicted higher problematic short video use at Time 2. Adolescents who preferred being alone were, on average, more likely to develop problematic relationships with short video platforms over the following nine months. But this vulnerability was not uniform across the sample. Trait awe significantly moderated the association: at low levels of awe, the link between solitude and problematic short video use was significant, while at high levels of awe it was statistically nonsignificant. In other words, awe appeared to act as a buffer, dissolving the connection between solitude-seeking and problematic use for those adolescents who possessed the disposition in abundance.

Awe, in psychological research, is the emotion felt in the presence of something vast—natural landscapes, transcendent music, profound ideas—that exceeds one’s existing mental frameworks. It is associated with the small self, a diminished sense of personal concern, and increased connection to something larger. A solitary adolescent with a strong dispositional awe may channel time alone toward wonder rather than toward compulsive scrolling, a plausible mechanism consistent with the buffering pattern the data revealed. The study does not directly test this mechanism, but the pattern fits the theoretical account of awe as an emotion that redirects attention away from self-focused rumination and habitual gratification-seeking.

Dark Triad traits told the opposite story. The researchers found that the Dark Triad composite significantly moderated the solitude–problematic use link, with the association becoming stronger at high levels of these traits. Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy are each associated with manipulativeness, entitlement, impulsivity, and low empathy—characteristics that might make the immediate, self-serving rewards of an endless video feed especially compelling for a solitary adolescent. The three-way interaction then delivered the study’s most nuanced finding: the buffering effect of awe itself varied depending on Dark Triad levels. Awe’s protective association was more evident among adolescents lower in Dark Triad traits, although the researchers note that the magnitude of this conditional effect was modest.

The trait-level decomposition sharpened the picture further. The significant three-way interaction held for Machiavellianism and psychopathy, but not for narcissism. This asymmetry is theoretically interesting: Machiavellianism and psychopathy involve strategic cynicism and impulsive disregard respectively, both of which could erode the self-transcendent, reflective orientation that awe typically fosters. Narcissism, centered on grandiosity and a need for admiration, may operate through different channels that awe’s buffering influence does not touch in the same way. The finding suggests that researchers should not treat the Dark Triad as a monolithic block when modeling digital addiction risk, even though the composite did show a significant moderation effect overall.

The practical implications point toward a dual-track approach to prevention. Interventions that cultivate awe—through exposure to nature, immersive aesthetic experiences, or reflective practices—might help solitude-prone adolescents who do not carry heavy Dark Triad loads, reducing the likelihood that their time alone converts into compulsive short video consumption. For adolescents high in Machiavellianism or psychopathy, awe cultivation alone is likely insufficient; the modest buffering at high Dark Triad levels implies that such programs would need to be paired with approaches targeting the impulsive and exploitative tendencies themselves. The authors emphasize that models of vulnerability to problematic short video use should jointly consider positive emotional dispositions and dark personality traits rather than examining either in isolation. With short video platforms now among the dominant media environments for adolescents worldwide, understanding which lonely teens are protected—and which are not—may be a crucial step toward interventions that actually work.

Subject of Research: Moderating roles of trait awe and Dark Triad traits in the prospective link between preference for solitude and problematic short video use among adolescents

Article Title: When does awe protect? The moderating roles of awe and dark triad traits in the association between preference for solitude and problematic short video use

Article References: Fan, H., Huang, Y., & Gan, X. (2026). When does awe protect? The moderating roles of awe and dark triad traits in the association between preference for solitude and problematic short video use. BMC Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-026-05600-4

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s40359-026-05600-4

Keywords: awe, preference for solitude, problematic short video use, Dark Triad, Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy, adolescents, I-PACE framework, behavioral addiction, cyberpsychology, positive psychology