A Longitudinal Relationship Between Mother’s Smartphone Addiction to Child’s Smartphone Addiction

Children are more likely to become addicted as they become accustomed to using smartphones, and as they observe and imitate their parents using smartphones. This study aims to confirm longitudinally the effect of mother’s smartphone addiction on children’s smartphone addiction. Latent growth modeling was used to analyze longitudinal relationships between 3615 pairs of children and their mothers from the Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey (KCYPS) (2018–2020). As a result, both the mothers and children’s smartphone addiction significantly increased over time. The initial value of the mother’s smartphone addiction was found to have a significant effect on the child's initial value and the change rate. Moreover, children’s smartphone addiction change rate was significantly affected by the change rate of the mother’s smartphone addiction. To intervene in children’s smartphone addiction, a family-level approach, as well as parental addiction, must also be addressed, and a preventive approach should focus on those with a low risk of addiction.