The Relationship between Korean Parents’ Smartphone Addiction and That of Their Children: The Mediating Effects of Children’s Depression and Social Withdrawal

Shin-Il Lim and Sookyung Jeong
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Shin-Il Lim: Department of Educational Psychology, College of Nursing, Jesus University, Jeonju 54989, Korea
Sookyung Jeong: Department of Nursing, College of Medicine, Wonkwang University, Iksan 54538, Korea

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 9, 1-12

Abstract: With the number of smartphone users growing around the world, children are using smartphones from an increasingly early age. Consequently, a significant number of children are being exposed to the risk of smartphone addiction, which is emerging as a serious social problem. Smartphone addiction can negatively impact children’s physical, cognitive, and social development. Previous studies have demonstrated that parental smartphone addiction influences that of their children. Therefore, this study explores the relationship between parental smartphone addiction and children’s smartphone addiction and the mediating effects of children’s depression and social withdrawal. Data are drawn from National Youth Policy Institute’s 2018 Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey. Respondents comprise 2011 fourth-grade elementary school students and their parents. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 21.0 and AMOS 21.0 software. Results show that the relationship between parental smartphone addiction and that of their children has a significantly positive mediating effect on children’s social withdrawal, but no such effect on children’s depression and there were no serial effects of children’s depression and social withdrawal. Consequently, educational programs that control parents’ smartphone usage, improve the parent–child relationship, and engender social sensitivity should be developed to reduce and prevent smartphone addiction among children.

Keywords: smartphone addiction; parent–child relationship; parenting style; depression; social withdrawal (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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