자기결정성 이론에 근거한 청소년의 스마트폰 과의존에 미치는 영향 요인 연구

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors that may influence smartphone overdependence of Korean adolescents. It has been known that smartphone overdependence has a negative effect on mental health of adolescents, leading to their on-offline delinquency. There has been a growing interest in examining the determinants of smartphone overdependence. Yet, previous research tends to employ empirical evidence offered by other scholars, rather than taking a theoretical approach. Supplementing the limitation of existing literature, the current study employs the self-determination theory. According to the self-determination theory, there are three types of self-determinants (i.e. autonomy, competence and relatedness) that may influence individuals’ smartphone overdependence through the mediating effect of life satisfaction. The mediating effect of life satisfaction was tested by the original Baron and Kenny method. Furthermore, the bootstrap method is used to handle the problems with the Baron and Kenny approach. The study results show that autonomy is significantly associated with reducing both female and male smartphone overdependence, through direct and indirect effects of life satisfaction. Meanwhile, the effect of competence on smartphone overdependence is not statistically significant for female students but for male students. Finally, there is no impact of relatedness on smartphone overdependence in adolescence.