A Bibliometric Analysis to Identify Research Trends in Intervention Programs for Smartphone Addiction

Yi-Ying Wu () and Wen-Huei Chou
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Yi-Ying Wu: Graduate School of Design, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, 123 University Road, Section 3, Douliou 64002, Yunlin, Taiwan
Wen-Huei Chou: Department of Digital Media Design, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, 123 University Road, Section 3, Douliou 64002, Yunlin, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 5, 1-16

Abstract: Smartphone addiction is a serious social problem that necessitates research. To identify trends in intervention programs for smartphone addiction, distribution of research topics, and inter-relationships in academic research. We analyzed 104 studies published between 30 June 2022, and 31 August 2022, on the Web of Science (WoS). We applied the bibliometric method and identified the relationship and development trends of academic research in the field using descriptive analysis, the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), co-citation analysis, bibliographic coupling, and co-occurrence. There were four findings: First, intervention programs are classified into 10 types: psychological, social support, lifestyle, technological, family, medical care, educational, exercise, mindfulness, and meditation. Second, the volume of research on intervention programs increased every year. Third, China and South Korea had the highest research involvement. Finally, academic studies were split into either the human behavior or social science categories. Most of them defined the symptoms in terms of individual behavior and social relations, implying that smartphone addiction is not yet recognized as a disorder. Smartphone addiction has not yet been internationally recognized as a disorder, despite its impact on human physiology, psychology, and social behavior. Most related studies have been conducted in Asia, specifically in China and South Korea; Spain has the most outside Asia. Additionally, most of the research subjects were students, probably because of the convenience of sampling. As smartphones gain popularity among older adults, future studies could focus on smartphone addiction among individuals of varied ages.

Keywords: smartphone addiction; research trend; intervention program; bibliometric analysis; LDA (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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