THE RELATIONSHIP OF CHILDREN'S SMARTPHONE USE WITH WELL-BEING AND SCHOOL ACHIEVEMENT
THE RELATIONSHIP OF CHILDREN'S SMARTPHONE USE WITH WELL-BEING AND SCHOOL ACHIEVEMENT

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between some aspects of children’s smartphone use (time and motives for smartphone use), indicators of well-being (life satisfaction, positive and negative affect), and school achievement. Participants were 283 children (59,2% girls) aged from 10 to 15 (median 12) years and one of their parents who agreed to participate in the project “Digital technology in the family: patterns of behaviour and effects on child development”. A new scale for children’s motives for smartphone use was developed and it showed good psychometric properties. Children’s life satisfaction was assessed using the Short multidimensional life-satisfaction scale (Seligson et al., 2003), positive and negative effects were assessed using the PANAS-C scale (Ebesutani et al., 2012), and school achievement was measured according to the Croatian grading scale. Results show that as they grow older, children tend to spend more time using smartphones, and their life satisfaction declines. Girls tend to experience more negative affect, while boys tend to experience more positive affect. Girls are also more prone to use smartphone for communication and their school tasks. More usage of smartphones for entertainment is related to higher levels of negative effect in children, while more usage of smartphones for communication is related to higher positive affect and lower school achievement in children. The obtained results are discussed and represent a direction for future research, pointing to the examination of the content to which children and young people are exposed on smartphones and social media.

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