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Intercohort comparison of smartphone dependency in adolescence with increased smartphone possession and accessibility

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Abstract

Different cohorts experience different societal environments and may have different life experiences. We therefore examined long-term changing trajectories of smartphone dependency among Korean adolescents by directly comparing two cohorts. To compare cohorts in terms of the changing trajectories of smartphone dependency, a latent growth modeling analysis was performed, followed by a multi-group analysis involving 1972 students (2013–2016, from students in the 7th–10th grade, female 48.7%, mean age = 12.95–15.95 years) and 2159 students (2010–2013, from students in the 7th to 10th grade, female 51.7%, mean age = 12.95–15.95 years) who participated in the Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey. The cohorts differed significantly both in the initial value of smartphone dependency and the slope. The effect size of gender, parental affection, and parental interference on the smartphone dependency of adolescents varied according to cohort. Compared with the past cohort, the recent cohort demonstrated high smartphone dependency at an earlier age, which gradually declined afterward, and that smartphone dependency in the past cohort rapidly increased over time, although it was not as high at an earlier age as that of the recent cohort. Based on the findings, implications for practice, policy, and theory are discussed.

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Availability of Data and Material

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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This work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea (2020S1A5A8040660).

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  1. Department of Social Welfare, Hannam University, 70, Hannam-ro, Daedeok-gu, Daejeon, Republic of Korea

    Changmin Yoo

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  1. Changmin Yoo
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Correspondence to Changmin Yoo.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Hannam University (No: 2020-E-01-02).

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Yoo, C. Intercohort comparison of smartphone dependency in adolescence with increased smartphone possession and accessibility. Curr Psychol 42, 10123–10135 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-02323-0

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