A Meta-Analysis of the Factors Affecting on the infant’s Smartphone overdependence

Objectives The purpose of this study was to analyze factors affecting infant's smartphone overdependence through meta-analysis . Methods A meta-analysis was conducted by selecting 34 studies among papers published in Korea until 2023 related to smartphone overdependence among infants. A meta-analysis was conducted using the R statistical program to calculate the individual effect sizes of 210 substudies from 34 studies and analyze the factors affecting smartphone overdependence in infants through statistical transformation. Results As a result of analyzing the factors affecting infant's smartphone overdependence through meta-analysis, first, it was found that parent variables had more influence on infant's smartphone overdependence than infant's variables. Second, the effect size of empathy ability as an infant-related protective variable and problem behavior as a trigger variable were found to be the largest, while positive parenting attitude as a parent-related protective variable and parenting stress as a trigger variable were found to have the largest effect size. It was found that the infant's ability to empathize and the parents' positive parenting attitude are factors that prevent smartphone overdependence, while the infant's problem behavior and parents' parenting stress are factors that trigger smartphone overdependence. Conclusions Since parent-related variables that directly affect infant's smartphone overdependence have more influence than infant-related variables, it is recommended to apply parent education and programs that can reduce parents' parenting stress and parents' smartphone overdependence. There is a need to develop a parent education program that is more effective and allows parents to show their infant good modeling of smartphone use, thereby helping prevent infant's overdependence on smartphones.