Negative Emotions, Academic Self-efficacy And Smartphone Addiction In Primary School Students: A Longitudinal Study

Smartphone addiction refers to a new type of behavioral addiction,which leads to the damage of social function and psychological and behavioral problems caused by excessive use of mobile phones.With the progress of science and technology,smart phones have become an indispensable part of people's lives.For primary school students whose self-control is not yet mature,the attraction and penetration of smart phones should not be underestimated.Excessive use of smart phones may have many negative effects on the physical and mental health of primary school students,such as anxiety,stress,depression and other negative emotions.Moreover,indulging in mobile phones during primary school growth and occupying the time that should be used for study and normal life will have an impact on their interest in learning and lead to a decrease in their academic self-efficacy.At present,most of the researches on smartphone addiction focus on college students and vocational college students,while the studies on primary school students are still relatively few,which can't cope with the problem of the younger age of smartphone addiction groups.In addition,many scholars have adopted the method of cross-sectional study,which cannot reveal the dynamic changing trend among variables.Therefore,based on the previous literature,this present study used hierarchical linear model analysis to comprehensively explore the relationship between variables,so as to understand the changes of primary school students' smartphone addiction,and the influence of primary school students' grade,gender,negative emotions and academic self-efficacy on smartphone addiction.Researchers used online questionnaire to collected data and conduct longitudinal follow-up study in three times(in January,March and June 2020,respectively).The subjects selected 553 pupils from grades 4 to 6 in three primary schools in Sichuan Province.The dependent variable of the model(i.e.smartphone addiction)and the independent variable of the model(i.e.time factor and two covariates changing with time-negative emotions and academic self-efficacy)were placed as level-one variables,while the individual's grade and gender were placed as level-two variables.The research results were as follows:1.Most of the changes of primary school students' smartphone addiction came from individual variation(ICC = 0.556,p < 0.001).2.From the trend of change,the degree of smartphone addiction of primary school students was in the lower-middle level(the mean score of SABAS ranged from 10.572 to 11.142 and the standard deviation ranged from 0.658 to 0.779),and showing a downward trend as a whole(average starting state: r =1.818,p < 0.001;Average linear growth: r =-0.133,p< 0.001;Average acceleration growth: r =0.076,p < 0.001).3.Two covariates that change with time: negative emotion,academic self-efficacy and smartphone addiction variables of primary school students were significantly covariant relationship(negative emotion: r =0.422,p < 0.001;Academic self-efficacy: r =-0.053,p < 0.01).4.Smartphone addiction will be different due to the personal characteristics(grade and gender)of primary school students.Specifically,with the increase of grades,smartphone addiction becomes more and more serious(grade: r =0.131,p < 0.01),and the situation of smartphone addiction of girls is more serious than that of boys(gender: r =-0.214,p < 0.001).The research conclusions were as follows:1.There were differences among individuals in the scores of smartphone addiction during three waves data-collection,and the cross-level effect was significant,which showed that a large portion of the changes in smartphone addiction in this study are caused by differences among different individuals(55.6%).2.In the area investigated in this study,the degree of smartphone addiction of primary school students was in the lower middle levelreflecting not very serious on the whole,while few students had a high level.In the three measured times,the change of smartphone addiction showed a downward trend,and the highest smartphone addiction occurred in the first survey.This result may be affected by the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic in early 2020,because the survey was carried out during the transition stage when primary school students finished their online learning and went to school.The decrease of loneliness,the increase of academic tasks and the dual management of parents and teachers may reduce the frequency of students' contact with smartphone.3.The primary school students' smartphone addiction variable was covariant with the other two variables(negative emotion and academic self-efficacy),and these two covariates will change with the smartphone addiction.The result means that it is possible to change these two covariates,which will improve the situation of primary school students' smartphone addiction,and provide some valuable reference for the prevention and intervention of primary school students' smartphone addiction.4.Personal characteristics of primary school students: Grade and gender have significant influence on smartphone addiction behavior.Senior grade students,and girls had more serious smartphone addiction.These may be influenced by the psychological characteristics(Character and self-awareness gradually matures)of primary school students.