The Relationship of Smartphone Addiction with Self-esteem and Self-consciousness among Girls in the First Year of High School

Background In recent years, an increasing number of studies have shown self-esteem and self-consciousness can be protective factors against smartphone addiction among adolescents. Our study aims to investigate the relationship between smartphone addiction and self-esteem and self-consciousness among girls in their first year of high school. Materials and Methods: The samples of this cross-sectional included all the female first year students in Tehran, Iran, from 2019 to 20. The formula suggested by Krejcie and Morgan was used to measure the sample size (n=140), and stratified sampling was used for the collection of samples. The scale of smartphone addiction, the scale of Coopersmith self-esteem, and the self-consciousness scale (revised version) were used. Data were analyzed by SPSS software version 23.0. Results: The total sample of the study included 140 girls with the mean age of 15.81 (0.63) years. The Mean students' self-esteem was (34.58± 11.81). The correlation analysis indicated that self-esteem and self-consciousness (MR = -0.423, p<0.05) had a significant negative correlation with smartphone addiction among student. The results also showed a significant negative correlation between self-esteem and self-consciousness with smartphone addiction (p<0.05). The correlation coefficient between self-esteem and smartphone addiction was (r = 0.394, p<0.05) and the correlation coefficient between self-consciousness and smartphone addiction was (r = -0.293, p<0.05). Conclusion Based on the regression equation with the standard coefficients, self-esteem and self-consciousness had a positive effect on smartphone addiction in students. The findings also show that self-esteem predictors, compared to those of the self-consciousness, are better predictors for smartphone addiction.