Huiyuan Hu Xuewei Chen ^*

• East China University of Political Science and Law, Shanghai, China

The rise of short video applications has become a defining feature of modern digital media consumption, drawing increasing attention from researchers due to issues related to short video addiction. While earlier studies have examined the perceived stress as a cause of short video addiction, there is limited understanding of the potential mechanisms underlying the relationship between these two variables. Building on compensatory Internet use (CIU) theory, this study introduces an extended model (E-CIU) to explore how stress, compensatory motivations (i.e., social interaction and relaxing entertainment), and affective responses (i.e., immersion and attitude) relate to short video addiction. The research also examines differences across age groups, analyzing data from 319 valid questionnaires. Findings indicate that stress, immersion, and attitude each contribute positively to short video addiction. Stress is linked to both social interaction and relaxing entertainment. While both factors positively affect attitude toward short videos, only relaxing entertainment enhances immersion. Results confirmed the perceived stress indirectly influences short video addiction through a serial mediating pathway comprising motivations and affective responses. Moreover, the study shows that perceived stress influences social interaction, relaxing entertainment influences attitude and immersion, and social interaction influences immersion across all age groups. The study further identified variations in how different groups experience the relationship between stress and addiction, stress and relaxation, attitude and addiction, and immersion and addiction. These insights offer practical recommendations for short video applications to address user engagement and addiction more effectively.