Mediating effects of self-regulation and grit on the relationship between family strength and smartphone dependence of high school students

Objectives This study examines mediating effect of self-regulation ability and grit on the relationship between family strength and smartphone dependence of high school students. Methods Thes survey was conducted on 350 students in two private high schools located in Busan Metropolitan City, and 332 data were used for the final analysis. The collected data were subjected to descriptive statistical analysis and correlation analysis using the SPSS Ver 27.0 program and PROCESS Macro for SPSS Ver. 4.3, and the significance of the mediating effect was verified by a bootstrapping method. Results The results of this study are as follows. First, there was a significant correlation among high school students' family strength, dependence on smartphones, and self-regulation ability. Second, the sub-factors of self-regulation ability were completely mediated by the relationship between high school students' family strength and dependence on smartphones. Third, there was a significant correlation among high school students' family strength, dependence on smartphones, and grit. Fourth, the sub-factors of grit were completely mediated by the relationship between high school students' family strength and dependence on smartphones. Conclusions The results of this study will be useful for understanding high school students' family strength dependence on smartphones and correct self-regulation ability and grit.