Compassionate love, self-liking/self-competence, phubbing, and being phubbed among nursing students: A cross-sectional correlational study

Abstract

Aim: This study aimed to examine the relationships between nursing students' levels of compassionate love, self-liking/self-competence, phubbing, and being phubbed. Methods: This study was conducted as a cross-sectional correlational study with 188 nursing students. Results: Phubbing and being phubbed were moderately and positively correlated (r = .41, p < .001). Both phubbing and being phubbed showed weak negative correlations with self-liking (r = ?.21, p = .004 and r = ?.20, p = .006, respectively), whereas self-competence was not significantly associated with either variable. Compassionate love was positively associated only with self-competence (r = .23, p = .001). Students using smartphones for ?5 hours daily reported significantly higher phubbing scores (p = .002). Moderation analysis revealed that compassionate love attenuated the negative association between phubbing and self-liking (? = .77, p = .043). Conclusion: Higher levels of phubbing were associated with lower self-liking among nursing students, whereas compassionate love appeared to buffer this adverse relationship. Compassionate love may serve as a protective psychosocial resource that mitigates the negative impact of phubbing on self-perceptions. © 2026 Organization for Associate Degree Nursing. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.