Abstract

The objective of this study was to identify the moderating effects of the way adolescents cope when under perceived stress and smartphone usage. Data were collected from 102 middle school students using a self-reported questionnaire, which included a general stress scale, the way of coping checklist, and smartphone usage time per day. A Descriptive, Pearson correlation and hierarchial regression analyses were performed and found that 80% of the student participants used samrtphone. The average smartphone usage per day was 2.8 hours. Smartphone usage time correlated with perceived stress (r=0.344, p=＜.01), emotion focused coping (r=0.438, p=＜.01), and wishful thinking coping (r=0.285, p=＜.01). The emotion focused coping had a moderating effect (β=1.105, p=＜.05) between perceived stress and smartphone usage in adolescents. In conclusion, intervention included a proper and active way of coping with stressful situations that could be used to help control smartphone usage in adolescents. (Korean J Stress Res 2016;24:57∼64)

• Keywords: Stress, Coping, Smartphone;