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The moderated mediating effect of BMI in the relationship between smartphone dependency, self-esteem, and academic
1School Health Clinic, Doonchon Middle School, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Background:
After the COVID-19 pandemic, adolescents' use of smartphones increased, and academic helplessness intensified. However, little is known about how self-esteem and body mass index function as internal mechanisms in the relationship between smartphone dependency and academic helplessness. This study examined whether self-esteem mediated the relationship between smartphone dependency and academic helplessness and whether this mediating process was moderated by body mass index.
Methods:
Data were collected from 2481 first-year middle school students who participated in the Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey 2018 and analyzed using SPSS version 25.0 and PROCESS macro version 4.2.
Results:
Results revealed that smartphone dependency had a significant predictive effect on academic helplessness. Furthermore, self-esteem played a mediating role in the relationship between smartphone dependency and academic helplessness. Body mass index played a moderating role in the relationship between smartphone dependency and self-esteem.
Conclusions:
These findings suggest that preparing practical alternatives to preemptively prevent smartphone dependency and obesity and promote self-esteem is necessary to actively respond to adolescents' academic helplessness.
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