The Influence of Interpersonal Conflict on Smartphone Addiction Among Adolescents: An Examination of the Roles of Relatedness Need Satisfaction and Conflict Management

Abstract

Smartphone addiction is a common public health problem for children and adolescents. Prior studies found an association between interpersonal conflicts and smartphone addiction, but the mechanism underlying this association remained unclear. This study aimed to explore the mediator of relatedness need satisfaction and the moderator of conflict management underlying this association. Data were obtained from a cross-sectional survey in Hebei Province, China, involving 728 high school adolescents (M = 16.33, SD = 1.00). The mediating and moderating effects were examined using the SPSS PROCESS macro. The results indicated that the conflicts with parents, friends and teachers directly and positively predicted adolescents' smartphone addiction. Moreover, relatedness need satisfaction partially mediated the association between three types of interpersonal conflicts and smartphone addiction. Conflict management moderated the relationship between teacher conflict and smartphone addiction. The effect was significant for adolescents with low levels of conflict management but nonsignificant for those with high levels of conflict management. The present study expanded current knowledge on the influencing mechanisms of smartphone addiction and provided practical implications for clinical interventions for reducing smartphone addiction among Chinese school-aged adolescents.