Influences of Playfulness on Smartphone Dependency among Upper Grades of Korean Elementary Schoolers

Seong Eon Kim and Hyoung-Kil Kang
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Seong Eon Kim: Department of Police Science, Kyungnam University, Changwon 51767, Korea
Hyoung-Kil Kang: Department of Physical Education, Kyungnam University, Changwon 51767, Korea

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 12, 1-11

Abstract: A paucity of research has addressed the relationship between each psychological construct of playfulness and smartphone dependency, and the purpose of this research is to understand how each psychological construct of playfulness, including physical animation, social engagement, mental spontaneity, emotional fluidity, and humorous perspective playfulness, influences smartphone dependency of the upper grades of elementary schoolers. For this purpose, a total of 278 questionnaires was analyzed for descriptive, correlation, and multiple regression analysis. The correlation analysis showed that respondents’ age positively and parents’ education levels negatively correlates to smartphone dependency. The multiple regression analyses showed that physical animation playfulness and emotional fluidity playfulness negatively and social engagement playfulness positively influence smartphone dependency of the respondents. The findings indicate that to reduce smartphone dependency among elementary schoolers, physical animation and emotional fluidity playfulness need to be promoted. The findings also suggest that each component of playfulness has distinctive advantages and disadvantages of developmental processes in childhood, and more future research endeavors need to be directed to understand the role of playfulness in children’s behaviors and cognitive processes.

Keywords: social engagement playfulness; physical animation playfulness; emotional fluidity playfulness; smartphone dependency; elementary schoolers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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