Relationship among family environment, self-control, friendship quality, and adolescents’ smartphone addiction in South Korea: Findings from nationwide data

Abstract

BackgroundMany studies have examined the negative impact on smartphone addiction in adolescents. Recent concerns have focused on predictors of smartphone addiction. This study aimed to investigate the association of adolescents’ smartphone addiction with family environment (specifically, domestic violence and parental addiction). We further investigated whether self-control and friendship quality, as predictors of smartphone addiction, may reduce the observed risk.MethodsWe used the 2013 national survey on internet usage and utilization data from the National Information Agency of Korea. Information on exposure and covariates included self-reported experience of domestic violence and parental addiction, sociodemographic variables, and other variables potentially related to smartphone addiction. Smartphone addiction was estimated using a smartphone addiction proneness scale, a standardized measure developed by national institutions in Korea.ResultsAdolescents who had experienced domestic violence (OR = 1.74; 95% CI: 1.23–2.45) and parental addiction (OR = 2.01; 95% CI: 1.24–3.27) were found to be at an increased risk for smartphone addiction after controlling for all potential variables. Furthermore, on classifying adolescents according to their level of self-control and friendship quality the association between domestic violence and parental addiction, and smartphone addiction was found to be significant in the group with adolescents with lower levels of self-control (OR = 2.87; 95% CI: 1.68–4.90 and OR = 1.95; 95% CI: 1.34–2.83) and friendship quality (OR = 2.33; 95% CI: 1.41–3.85 and OR = 1.83; 95% CI: 1.26–2.64).ConclusionOur findings suggest that family dysfunction was significantly associated with smartphone addiction. We also observed that self-control and friendship quality act as protective factors against adolescents’ smartphone addiction.

Does Smartphone Addiction Fall on a Continuum of Addictive Behaviors?

“…and physiological concerns (depression, anxiety, loneliness, etc.). SA has been defined as a maladaptive dependency on and/or obsessive-compulsive use of the smartphone device [18], a state of being immersed in uncontrollable smartphone usage [41], and the inability to properly regulate smartphone usage to the point of experiencing adverse consequences in one's daily life (Billieux, 2012) [21]. Interestingly, PSU has been similarly defined as "an excessive or uncontrolled use of smartphone" (also Billieux, 2012) [61].…”

Problematic smartphone usage and subjective and psychological well-being

“…Problematic smartphone usage has been defined as compulsive usage that leads to impaired daily functioning in terms of productivity, social relationships, physical health, or emotional well-being (Horwood & Anglim, 2018). Despite the various benefits of smartphones, many studies have obtained correlations between problematic usage and stress (e.g., Cao, Masood, Luqman, & Ali, 2018;Kim, Min, Min, Lee, & Yoo, 2018;Kuang-Tsan & Fu-Yuan, 2017;Samaha & Hawi, 2016;Van Deursen, Bolle, Hegner, & Kommers, 2015). The notion that smartphones can cause users to become stressed, overwhelmed, and exhausted has been termed 'technostress' (Ayyagari, Grover, & Purvis, 2011;Lee, Chang, Lin, & Cheng, 2014;Maier, Laumer, Weinert, & Weitzel, 2015;Tarafdar, 2017), or, in some cases, 'techno-exhaustion' (Cao et al, 2018).…”

Factors associated with smartphone addiction risk in preschool children

“…This finding differs from the factors associated with smartphone addiction risk among school-age children or adolescents, which included games, SNS, instant messaging, and habitual use [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]25]. The factors were also related to parental intervention, self-control, self-esteem, and friendship [25,26,35,36]. For preschool children, the impact of watching TV shows and videos may be related to the behaviour or habits of parents or primary caregivers [28].…”

“…Problematic use of the applications for entertainment (gaming being one of its forms), instant messengers and social networking services (SNS) can be generally more likely to contribute to smartphone addiction [18,19,[21][22][23]25]. Smartphone addiction can negatively affect self-esteem, physical and mental health, and social relationships, especially among children or adolescents [12,15,[25][26][27]. Its impact on younger children is expected to be more severe.…”