Fathima K.A. and Malini R.
Union Christian College, Aluva
Pages: 362-372
The present study was conducted to investigate the relationship between smartphone
use, parenting style, and psychological well-being of adolescents and young adults. It
also aimed to explore whether excessive and non-excessive users of smartphones can
be differentiated based on parenting style and psychological well-being. 250 participants
(183 girls and 67 boys) from different educational institutions in two districts of Kerala,
belonging to the age range of 13 to 23 years were selected for the study. Data were
collected using the Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short version (SAS-SV), Perceived
parenting style scale, and Psychological well-being scale. Pearson’s correlation method,
Student’s t-test, and discriminant function analysis were used to analyze the data.
Findings indicate that excessive users of smartphones tend to experience more of an
authoritarian or permissive parenting style. Non-excessive users had a greater sense
of well-being. Both groups could be differentiated on the basis of their scores in
authoritarian parenting style and psychological well-being. Excessive and non-excessive
users of smartphones may have distinct profiles which need to be explored further