Poster #240 - Intergenerational Transmission of Smartphone Addiction: The Role of Children’s Smartphone Use Patterns

• In Event: 3-053 - Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: PS 10 Section - Technology, Media & Child Development

Integrative Statement

Contemporary mobile technology has been used by adolescents and changes their lives. By the December 2017, 753 million internet users in China were using smartphone to go online, 19.6% of whom aged from 10-19years (China Internet Network Information Center, 2018). Despite the significant benefits that adolescents reap from their use of smartphone, such as online learning opportunities, recent studies have stressed the potential for problematic use such as smartphone addiction (Seo, Park, Kim, & Park, 2016). Smartphone addiction is new behavioral addiction characterized by excessive or compulsive smartphone use that interferes with an individual’s daily functioning and brings negative mental and social consequences (Gutiérrez, de Fonseca, & Rubio, 2016). Parental problematic mobile technology use has been associated with suboptimal parent–child interactions as well as children’s behavior problems (Kildare & Middlemiss, 2017; McDaniel & Radesky, 2018). This study aimed to understand whether parental smartphone addiction is associated with children’s smartphone use patterns and smartphone addiction. Self-control, a critical psychological predictor of smartphone addiction (Jiang & Zhao, 2016), was used as a control variable in this study.
The sample included 799 eighth grader’s families in China, from which parents and children all had their own smartphones (children’s mean age: 14.83±0.83 years. boys: 54.5%). One of the parents (mothers: 66.4%) completed Intensive Smartphone Use Scale (Derks & Bakker, 2014). The children completed the Smartphone Addiction Proneness Scale (Kim, Lee, Lee, Nam, & Chung, 2014), Self-Control Scale (Tangney, Baumeister, & Boone, 2004), and Smartphone Use Patterns Questionnaire (assessing daily use pattern of smartphone, including entertainment, interpersonal, information-seeking, and utility). Multiple regression analyses were used to test the relationship between smartphone addiction in two generations. Structural equation modeling was performed to explore the mediation effect of children’s smartphone use patterns in the intergenerational transmission. Contrast mediation effects were calculated to determine the relative magnitudes of the different specific mediation effects. Results showed that: (1) After controlling children’s self-control (β = –.52, p < .001), parents’ smartphone addiction (β = .09, p = .003) is significantly related to children’s smartphone addiction, the intergenerational transmission of smartphone addiction exists. (2) In a multiple mediation model, parents’ smartphone addiction has a significant indirect effect on children’s smartphone addiction through children’s smartphone use patterns (the mediation effect accounted for 91.53% of the total effect), while direct effect is not significant. (3) Specific mediation effects of entertainment and interpersonal use patterns are significant, but use patterns of information-seeking and utility don’t have significant specific mediation effects. (4) Contrast mediation effect between interpersonal and information-seeking is significant (β = .02, p = .038), contrast mediation effect between interpersonal and utility is also significant (β = .02, p = .050).

Authors

• Xiaoxiong Lai, Beijing Normal University
  Presenting Author

• Meixuan Zhang, Beijing Normal University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Chengwei Zhu, Beijing Normal University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Bin Tang, Beijing Normal University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Cai Zhang, Beijing Normal University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Yun Wang, Beijing Normal University
  Non-Presenting Author