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(Dept. of Child & Family Studies, Kyung Hee University)
Objectives: This study aimed to examine the relationship between Chinese adolescents' academic performance and smartphone overdependence as well as the moderating effects of parental involvement. Method: For this study, a survey was conducted with 472 adolescent students in three middle schools (n = 224) and three high schools (n = 248) in Shanghai, China. The survey consisted of the "S-Scale for Smartphone Addiction," the "Parental Involvement Scale," and questions regarding perceived academic performance using a demographic questionnaire. Results: The following are the major findings. First, after controlling for the students' demographic characteristics, hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that the students' perceived academic performance was negatively related to the levels of smartphone overdependence. Second, this study found significant moderation effects of parental involvement on the relationship between academic performance and smartphone overdependence. Chinese adolescents with low levels of perceived academic performance and high levels of perceived parental involvement showed high levels of smartphone overdependence. Finally, this study found significant moderation effects of parental involvement on the relationship between academic performance and smartphone overdependence only in middle-school students. Conclusions: These results indicate the need for healthy smartphone use and education and therapy programs for Chinese parents and adolescent children to prevent smartphone overdependence.