The Effect of Mobile-phone Dependency on School Adjustment in Korea: Focusing on the Moderating Effect of Self-Esteem and Gender Difference

• In Event: Posters I

Abstract

This study aims to investigate a moderating effect of self-esteem and gender difference of interaction effect in the relationship between mobile-phone dependency and school adjustment. For this purpose, the data were obtained from the first wave of 2010 Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey(KCYPS) administered by the National Youth Policy Institute. The sample included 1,176 boys and 1,175 girls in the first grade of middle schools. The results were as follows: First, mobile-phone dependency influenced negatively on school adjustment. Second, the effect of self-esteem was different conditional on the level of mobile-phone dependency. In the group with low level of mobile-phone dependency, self-esteem could moderate the negative influence of mobile-phone dependency on school adjustment while self-esteem could not affect in the group with high-level dependency. Third, there was gender difference in the moderating effect of self-esteem. For girls, self-esteem impacted as a moderating variable in the relationship between mobile-phone dependency and school adjustment, but for boys, self-esteem did not. Based on the results, the implications for youth welfare practices were discussed.

Authors

• Ick-Joong Chung, Ewha Womans University

• Ji Yeon Lee, Ewha Womans University