The Relationship between Smartphone Overdependence, Aggression and Subjective Happiness among Adolescents : Focusing on the Moderated Mediation Effects of Self-Esteem

The purpose of this study is to verify the mediating effects of aggressionand the moderated mediation effects of self-esteem in the effect of smartphone overdependence on subjective happiness. Using data from the 2018 Korean Childrenand Youth Panel Survey, the sample comprised 2,590 middle school students. Frequency analysis, descriptive statistics and correlation analysis were performedusing SPSS 26.0 version, and moderated mediation effects were analyzed usingSPSS PROCESS macro version 4.2 version model 7. Main results are as follows. First, it was found that aggression had a partial mediating effect in the relationbetween adolescents’s smartphone overdependence and subjective happiness. Second, the result showed that self-esteem played a moderating role in therelations between adolescents’s smartphone overdependence and aggression. Third,the way of adolescents' subjective happiness's being weakened was differentdepending on the level of self-esteem when adolescents' smartphoneoverdependence mediated aggression. Based on these results, this study discussedpractical measures to improve self-esteem and happiness, and to managesmartphone overdependence and aggression among adolescents.