This study aims to examine the effects of smartphone overdependence on aggression among adolescents and to verify the serial mediation effect of self-esteem and depression. For this purpose, this study utilized data from 2,242 respondents in the sixth wave of the fourth-grade elementary school panel of the Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey 2018 (KCYPS 2018). PROCESS Macro 4.3.1 was used for the analysis. A serial multiple mediation model, which assumes causal relationships among the mediators, was applied, with smartphone overdependence as the independent variable, aggression as the dependent variable, and self-esteem and depression as mediators. The main results are as follows. First, in the relationships among the variables, adolescents' smartphone overdependence was found to have a negative effect on self-esteem and positive effects on depression and aggression. Self-esteem was found to have negative effects on depression and aggression, while depression was found to have a positive effect on aggression. Second, in the relationship between adolescents' smartphone overdependence and aggression, the mediation effect of self-esteem, the mediation effect of depression, and the serial mediation effect of self-esteem and depression were all found to be significant. Third, the differences among the three mediation effects were all significant. Among them, the path mediated only by depression had the greatest effect, followed by the path serially mediated by self-esteem and depression, and the path mediated only by self-esteem. Based on these results, implications for prevention and intervention of aggression among adolescents and suggestions for future studies were presented.
Junga Han (2025) studied this question.