The Effects of Parent’s Smartphone Dependency on Child’s Smartphone Dependency: Serial Mediating Effects of Parenting, Child’s Depression and Aggression

Abstract

Objectives: This study examined the two-way effect of a parent’s smartphone dependency on child’s smartphone dependency focusing on the serial mediating effects of positive/negative parenting, and child’s depression/aggression.Methods: The sample comprised 2,290 fifth-grade elementary school students and their parents (father or mother). The results of descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation were calculated using SPSS 25 and the mediation model was analyzed using AMOS 25.0. The comparison among the serial mediation models was analyzed using AMOS 25.0 syntax.Results: A parent’s smartphone dependency had a significant direct effect on child’s smartphone dependency. The mediating effects of both positive/negative parenting and child’s depression/agression on the relationship between parent’s and child’s smartphone dependency were significant, supporting the serial mediation model. As a parent’s smartphone dependency increased, negative parenting increased while the positive parenting decreased. As negative parenting increased, a child’s depression and aggression did as well, finally leading to higher levels of smartphone dependency in the child. In contrast, as positive parenting increased, the child’s depression and aggression decreased leading to lower levels of smartphone dependency in the child. The path from parent’s to child’s smartphone dependency through negative parenting and aggression had the highest mediation effect.Conclusion: This study showed that the child’s smartphone dependency is affected by not only by childrelated factors (depression and aggression) but also parent-related factors (smartphone dependency and parenting). Additionally, comparing mediational effects, interventions focusing on negative parenting and child’s aggression might be more effective to reduce levels of child smartphone dependency.

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

“…Results show that children's depression does not play a mediating role in the relationship between parental smartphone addiction and their children's addiction. This finding contradicts those of other studies [18,57]. These studies clarified serial mediating effects of parenting style and children's depression and the relationship between parental smartphone addiction and their children's smartphone addiction.…”

“…The higher the score, the higher the addiction to smartphones. The reliability of Yoon's study (2021) as measured by Cronbach's alpha was 0.875 [18], and this scale has a reliability of 0.824.…”

“…Research has confirmed the mediating effect of children's depression on the relationship between parental and children's smartphone addiction. More specifically, scholars have observed a serial mediating effect: parental smartphone addiction influences parenting style [18] or parental rejection [19], which affects children's depression and causes children's smartphone addiction. Parents with a smartphone addiction spend their time mostly chatting or using social networking services.…”

The Effect of Children’s Smartphone Overdependence on Problem Behaviors: The Mediating Effect of Sleep Problems

“…Choi & Yeon, 2023), 낮은 자기통제력(S.-H. Jang, 2019), 집행기능 곤란(H.-R. Kim & Kim, 2021), 낮은 사회적 기술 (Przepiorka, Błachnio, Cudo, & Kot, 2021), 우울(F.-C. Chang et al, 2019;Chiang, Chang, Lee, & Hsu, 2019;Yoon, Lee, Lee, & Hong, 2021), 외로움 (Byun & Kweon, 2014), 사회적 위축 (Koo et al, 2022) 등과 같은 개 인 내적 요인과 부모의 부정적 양육태도 (Min, 2022;Yoon et al, 2021), 자녀의 스마트폰 사용에 대한 부모의 중재 부족(F.-C. Chang et al, 2019;B. Park, Shin, Kim, Kim, & Han, 2022), 부모의 스마트폰 과의존 (Yoon et al, 2021), 부정적 또래관계 (S.-H. Jang, 2019;Min, 2022) Kim & Kim, 2021)이나 사회성 발달 (Go, 2018), 부모, 교사, 또래 등 사회적 관계(J. U. Noh & Choi, 2019)에 부정적 영향을 미치고 공격성(H. Choi & Yeon, 2023) 을 유발하며 학습시간(S. A.…”