Depression, smartphone addiction and parenting

The purposes of the study were to examine differences in depression and smartphone addiction among four styles of perceived parenting, and determine whether the perceptions of paternal and maternal parenting are associated with depression and smartphone addiction among college students.

A cross-sectional descriptive correlational design was used. A convenience sample of 378 undergraduate students responded to the survey. Data were analyzed using ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression with IBM SPSS statistics version 21.

Levels of depression and smartphone addiction were significantly different according to the four styles of perceived parenting (optimal parenting, affectionate 有愛心的 constraint parenting, affectionless control parenting, and neglectful parenting). Scores of depression and smartphone addiction in the group with perceived affectionless control parenting were higher than those in the other groups. In a regression model, maternal care and paternal overprotection were significantly associated with depression. Also, maternal overprotection was the only significant predictor of smartphone addiction.

These results suggest that students who perceive that both fathers and mothers are low in care, warmth, and support; but high in overprotection, control and intrusiveness are vulnerable to depression and smartphone addiction. Targeted interventions to change and reframe students' perception of paternal and maternal parenting in a positive way may reduce their depression and smartphone addiction.

Yoo, T.J., & Kim, S.S. (2015). Impact of Perceived Parenting Styles on Depression and Smartphone Addition in College Students. Journal of Korean Academy of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 24(2), 127-135. https://doi.org/10.12934/jkpmhn.2015.24.2.127