Between-Person and Within-Person Longitudinal Relations Between Smartphone Dependence and Academic Helplessness in Adolescence: A Random-Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Model
AUTHOR : 김경민
INFORMATION : page. 1~13 / 2026 Vol.33 No.3
ABSTRACT
This study examined the longitudinal relations between smartphone dependence and academic helplessness in adolescence by distinguishing stable between-person differences from within-person fluctuations. Data were drawn from 2,607 adolescents in the elementary school fourth-grade cohort of the Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey 2018 across four annual waves from Grade 7 to Grade 10. A random-intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) was applied. The RI-CLPM fit the data better than the traditional cross-lagged panel model (CLPM). In the traditional CLPM, smartphone dependence significantly and positively predicted subsequent academic helplessness across all three transitions; however, these prospective paths were no longer significant after stable between-person differences were separated in the RI-CLPM. The stable between-person components of smartphone dependence and academic helplessness were strongly and positively associated. Within-person increases in academic helplessness predicted lower subsequent smartphone dependence at some transitions, but these effects were not consistent across waves and should therefore be interpreted cautiously. Multi-group analyses indicated no significant gender differences in the stable between-person association or in the within-person autoregressive and cross-lagged paths. These findings underscore the importance of distinguishing between-person associations from within-person temporal processes when interpreting longitudinal relations between smartphone dependence and academic helplessness.