School climate and connectedness predict problematic smartphone and social media use in Italian adolescents

ABSTRACT

Adolescents and young adults are most at risk for developing problematic smartphone and social media use that negatively impacts their mental health and well-being. Students’ perceptions of their school environment are likely a key area of potential risk and protective factors for adolescents’ problematic smartphone and social media use, but more scientific evidence is needed. To examine the associations between school climate, connectedness, affective engagement, and problematic smartphone and social media use, 529 Italian high school students were surveyed. Statistical methods (Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis) were used to analyze the data. The results of the study showed that all variables in the study were significantly correlated with each other. There was a negative correlation between school climate, connectedness to school, affective school engagement, and problematic smartphone and social media use. Among the predictor variables, school climate and connectedness to school were the only predictors of both problematic smartphone and social media use. Studies using an experimental design should be conducted to confirm our findings and demonstrate directionality. Mobile media education in school, combined with adolescents’ sense of well-being at school, could play an important role in preventing problematic smartphone and social media use.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescence
• problematic smartphone use
• problematic social media use
• school climate
• school connectedness
• school engagement

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this study.

Availability of data

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study

Additional information

Funding

This study wasn’t funded.

Notes on contributors

Paolo Bozzato

Paolo Bozzato, Ph.D at University of Insubria (Como-Varese, Italy), is an adjunct professor of Developmental and Communication Psychology. His main research interests concern autobiographical memory, future orientation, and adolescent psychological health.

Claudio Longobardi

Claudio Longobardi, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Italy. His main research interest is the study of interpersonal violence and child abuse and neglect adolescent health and bullying behavior.