Latent class analysis on internet and smartphone addiction in college students

Abstract

PurposeThis study aimed to classify distinct subgroups of people who use both smartphone and the internet based on addiction severity levels. Additionally, how the classified groups differed in terms of sex and psychosocial traits was examined.MethodsA total of 448 university students (178 males and 270 females) in Korea participated. The participants were given a set of questionnaires examining the severity of their internet and smartphone addictions, their mood, their anxiety, and their personality. Latent class analysis and ANOVA (analysis of variance) were the statistical methods used.ResultsSignificant differences between males and females were found for most of the variables (all <0.05). Specifically, in terms of internet usage, males were more addicted than females (P<0.05); however, regarding smartphone, this pattern was reversed (P<0.001). Due to these observed differences, classifications of the subjects into subgroups based on internet and smartphone addiction were performed separately for each sex. Each sex showed clear patterns with the three-class model based on likelihood level of internet and smartphone addiction (P<0.001). A common trend for psychosocial trait factors was found for both sexes: anxiety levels and neurotic personality traits increased with addiction severity levels (all P<0.001). However, Lie dimension was inversely related to the addiction severity levels (all P<0.01).ConclusionThrough the latent classification process, this study identified three distinct internet and smartphone user groups in each sex. Moreover, psychosocial traits that differed in terms of addiction severity levels were also examined. It is expected that these results should aid the understanding of traits of internet and smartphone addiction and facilitate further study in this field.

Is Smartphone Addiction Associated with a Younger Age at First Use in University Students?

“…In addition, Brezing et al (2010) in their review of behavioral addictions in youth alluded to the positive association between depression and problematic internet use in adolescents and college students, where internet use is used as a coping strategy. Likewise, we had similar expectation with regard to the effect of personality type A; once more presumed by findings from earlier studies revealing significant positive association between neurotic personality trait and smartphone addiction in Korean college students (Mok et al, 2014), personality type A and problematic mobile phone use in Turkish university students (Sahin et al, 2013), and type A behavior traits and mobile phone dependence after adjustment for health-related lifestyle habits and depressive state in Japanese medical university students (Masahiro & Satoko, 2013).…”

Influence of Self-awareness, Other-awareness, and Interpersonal Relation Competence on Smartphone and Internet Addiction in Nursing Students

“…그러나 이러한 관계가 원만히 형성되지 못 할 경우 갈등과 고립감을 경험하게 되고 이를 벗어나기 위해 인 터넷이나 스마트폰을 과다하게 이용하여 중독 가능성이 높아 질 수 있다 [7,12]. 그동안의 선행연구에서 남학생은 인터넷 중 독 위험 성향이 높고, 여학생은 스마트폰 중독 위험 가능성이 높은 것으로 보고되었다 [5,14,15]. 특히 간호학과는 학과 특성 상 대부분이 여학생으로 구성되어 있으며 또한 간호학과는 타 학과에 비해 상대적으로 학업량이 과중하고 임상실습으로 인 한 긴장감이 높아서 [13], 상대적으로 간호대학생이 스마트폰 이나 인터넷 중독에 노출될 가능성이 높다고 보고되었다 [12].…”

“…스마트폰은 인터넷을 기반으로 하여 다양한 기 능과 역할로 생활 전반에 걸쳐 많은 편익을 제공하고 있지만 일부 개인에게 있어 과사용 혹은 부적응적 사용이 사회적 문 제로 이슈화되고 있다. 실제적인 대인관계 상호작용이 감소 하거나 학생의 학업성취도가 감소되고 있음이 보고되고 있 는데 [4][5][6] 현실에서 대인관계의 어려움을 피하기 위해 인터 넷을 과도하게 이용하거나 [7], 스마트폰을 통해 가상공간에 서 대인관계의 어려움을 해결하려는 경향이 있음이 보고되었 다 [8,9]. 또한 대인관계에서 불안이 클수록 스마트폰 중독 위 험이 높고 [8,10,11], 현실 세계에서 대인관계의 부족함을 충족 시키기 위해 소셜 네트워크 서비스(social network services, SNS)를 이용하는 경향이 높음을 보고하였다 [7,10,12].…”

Examination of the relationship between nursing student’s internet and smartphone addictions

“…Day by day these developments make our lives easier. Internet-enabled mobile phones make it easier to email, chat, manage personal data, reach online newspapers, get road assistance and directions through navigation and maps, access educational materials, use social media and even access health-related clinical information (Choi et al, 2014;Davey & Davey, 2014;Jun, 2015). Smartphones lead to social and psychological behavioral consequences that affect individual and collective habits, social competencies, personality and relationships (A.…”

“…Many researchers point out that the overuse of smartphones can cause addiction. However, nothing is clear about smartphone addiction (Choi et al, 2014). The most basic feature of smartphones is that almost all applications require internet access.…”