The Effect of Adolescents' Social Withdrawal on Aggression: The Longitudinal Mediating Effect of Smartphone Dependency

This study aimed to provide empirical evidence for the prevention and intervention of adolescent aggression. To this end, it examined the mediating effect of smartphone dependency on the relationship between social withdrawal and aggression among adolescents in South Korea. The study utilized data from the Korea Youth Policy Institute's Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey (KCYPS), specifically responses from 7,304 middle school students collected over three waves from 2018 to 2020. To analyze the longitudinal mediating effects among the variables, a Cross-Lagged Autoregressive Model was employed. The estimation of parameters was conducted using SPSS 25.0 and Mplus ver.8. The results revealed that social withdrawal, aggression, and smartphone dependency were all positively correlated. Social withdrawal in the first year significantly influenced smartphone dependency in the following year. Furthermore, smartphone dependency in the second year significantly influenced aggression in the third year, confirming the longitudinal mediating effect. These findings suggest that social withdrawal over time influences smartphone dependency, which subsequently predicts future aggression. Based on these results, the study provided implications for interventions targeting adolescent aggression. Lastly, it discussed the study's limitations and proposed directions for future research.