Longitudinal Relationship between Overuse/Addictive Use of Mobile Phones and Depression in Adolescents: Adapting the Autoregressive Cross-Lagged Model and Multiple Group Analysis across Gender

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine whether a temporal relationship would develop between the overuse/addictive use of mobile phones and depression in adolescents. For this study, we used the 4-year longitudinal data (2004-2007, Study 1, which measured the overuse of mobile phones and depression) and the 2-year longitudinal data (2010-2011, Study 2, which measured the addictive use of mobile phones and depression) of the Korea Youth Panel study. In addition, the study explored gender differences with respect to the above mentioned relationship. Autoregressive cross-lagged modeling was carried out, along with a multiple group analysis across genders. The findings showed that the overuse/addictive use of mobile phones and depression in adolescents had a significant effect on the future selves of these adolescents over time. Moreover, the overuse/addictive use of mobile phones had a significant influence on subsequent depression, rather than vice versa. This means that as the overuse/addictive use of mobile phones by adolescents increases, their depression intensifies later on; however, as depression among adolescents intensifies, the overuse/addictive use of mobile phones by adolescents’ does not increase. Further, the study showed there were significant gender differences in the longitudinal relationship between the overuse/addictive use of mobile phones and depression. Study 1 shows that, prior to the release of smartphones, the overuse of mobile phones had a definite effect on the depression of only males. However, Study 2 shows that, after the release of smartphones, the effect of the addictive use of mobile phones on depression in females was greater than that in males.