AN INVESTIGATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN

HIGH-SCHOOL STUDENTS' PROBLEMATIC MOBILE PHONE

USE AND THEIR SELF-ESTEEM LEVELS
ASSIST. PROF. DR. ABDULLAH I§IKLAR
Department of Educational Sciences. Erciyes University,
Kayseri, 38039, Turkey.

ASSIST. PROF. DR. ALI HAYDAR CAR

Department of Educational Sciences, Sakarya

ASSIST. PROF. DR. MUSTAFA D U R M U Ç C E L E B Î

Department of Educational Sciences, Erciyes University,
Kayseri, 38039, Turkey.

Excessive mobile phone use, especially among adolescents, brings too

many debates about its effects. To this end, in this study, we try to in-
vestigate the relationship between adolescents' mobile phone use and
their self-esteem levels with regard to their genders. For 919 high school
students, we evaluated mobile phone use concerning their self-esteem
levels by using the Problem Mobile Phone Use Scale and Rosenberg
Self-Esteem Scale. The findings indicate that there is a significant rela-
tionship between problematic phone use and self-esteem levels, and that
there is also a significant difference between problematic mobile phone
use and gender.
Keywords: Mobile phone use, self esteem, social interactions, mental
health.

Introduction mobile services. In a study conducted by Mar-

Mobile phone is seen as one of the greatest * ' ° ° ^ ^' '^'- (2011), it was found that 91.7 %
innovations both in developed and developing °^ * ^ teenagers between 14 and 17 have their
countries. Advancements in mobUe phones ° ^ ^ mobile phones.
enable its users not just to communicate but Mobile phone can be considered as one
also to use different applications such as °^ * ^ " ° ^ ^ commonly used mediums for a
camera, internet, music player, games, social ^^^^'^ communication in the new era (Liao
media etc. According to The International ^ ^ ^ ' ^010) and it is also seen as the most
Telecommunication Union, at the end of outstanding device in the field of technology
2011, there were 6 bülion mobüe subscrip- (Walsh, White, Cox & Young, 2010). With an
tions. This number equals to 87 percent of the excessive rise in smart mobile phones, the use
world population. There is a huge increase °^ phones takes on a new dimension. Many
in subscriptions of mobüe phone from 4.7 findings have indicated that using only mo-
billion in 2009 to 5.4 billion in 2010 (http:// ^^^ phones for communication is generally
mobithinking.com/mobile-marketing-tools/ common among young adults (Cotten, 2008;
latest-mobile-stats/a.). Especially, the young Walsh, White & Young, 2010). Indeed, they
tend to be the most potential customers of the ^ ^ "^""^ ^^^^^ ^o use the SMS fimction more
10 / Education Vol. 134 No. 1

frequently than older people (Bianchi & Phil- phones in a day (Park, 2005), which can be
lips, 2005). However, this should not mean considered as the initial point of technological
that older people cannot use any functions of addiction.
mobile phones. As mentioned above, mobile phone use
While mobile phones are extremely attrac- has comiptive results such as loneliness, anx-
tive as a tool for communication and interper- iety due to lack of it, psychiatric and sleep-
sonal interaction, there has been a significant ing disorders (Liao & Wan, 2010; Thomée,
increase in its problematic use (Bianchi & Harenstam & Hagberg, 2011), depression
Phillips, 2005). Nowadays, a marked addic- (Thomée, Harenstam & Hagberg, 2011) and
tion is also observed in technological devices physical symptoms such as headache (Augner
although they offer crucial benefits for users; & Hacker, 2010; Liao & Wan, 2010; Thomée,
therefore, a new term has emerged in the liter- Harenstam & Hagberg, 2011), earache
ature about iising mobile phones excessively (Thomée, Harenstam & Hagberg, 2011). For
which is called technological addiction (Yen instance, when someone does not call a mo-
et al.., 2009), which occurs when people over- bile phone user, s/he may probably feel lonely
use a device to obtain beneficial outcomes or when fiiends do not call back, s/he tends
(Walsh, White & Young, 2010). Addiction is to feel nervous. Or anxiety can be observed
defined as an abnormal dependence on objects if there is an obstacle for using the mobile
or activities (Park, 2005; Walsh, White & phone (Yen et al, 2009).
Young, 2007) despite their negative outcomes It has been stated that men have domi-
(Walsh, White & Young, 2008). Modernity, nance over technology as compared to women
in a sociological perspective, requires new (Augner & Hacker, 2010; Iqbal, 2010). The
acquaintances to make people social beings; reason stems from behavioral differences;
however, mobile phone use strictly narrows that is, men are thought to be strong, rational
people's close environment and thus prevents and ambitious as opposed to being sensitive
them from having new and different social and paying attention to people's needs. Thus,
environments (Geser, 2006). For example, in men's use generally focuses on technological
a study, it was found that Koreans use mobile reasons and business calls; however, women's
phone not for meeting new people but for use generally focuses on sociability (Iqbal,
keeping in touch with already-known people, 2010). In a Spanish study carried out among
and the same problem can also be noticed the adolescents from 13 to 20, more frequent
among people in Italy (Ko, et ai, 2011; Ges- use of mobile phone is found among girls
er, 2006). Therefore, excluding oneself from (Augner & Hacker, 2010). In addition, some
the social surrounding or unwillingness to be other research emphasizes that today women
included in it is one of the signs of addictive have more tendency towards mobile phones
behavior. Other consequences of addictive (Bianchi & Phillips, 2005; Srivastava, 2005).
behaviors are also possible for mobile phone Therefore, male's dominance over mobile
addiction: losing control (as opposed to phone should now be up-to-date as it is sug-
unwillingness that causes someone to over- gested that the latest technology, especially
indulge in activities) and salience (desire to mobile phone technology, provides individual
be dominant in activities) (Walsh, White & communication and causes complex social
Young, 2007). In concordance with these, for behaviors as well as providing immediate
example, in a study carried out among Kore- use, fashion and showing status, and portabil-
an college students, they reported that they ity (Iqbal, 2010). Therefore, all these features
tend to be anxious if they do not use mobile can easily address to both genders. Despite all
 An Investigation of the Relationship between High-School Students' Problematic... /11

this information in the literattire, research on of the adaptation study, the correlation between
genders in mobile phone use does not oflFer English and Turkish forms was estimated at
clear results and it is likely that this difference 0.78 and both of them were accepted as hav-
may be over. ing eqtiivalent value. In rehability and vaUdity
Thus, in this study we seek answers to the studies, the Cronbach Alpha internal consis-
following questions: tency coefficient was estimated at 0.94 and the
Is there a significant difference between reliability coefficient was found to be 0.88.
the levels of problematic mobile phone use
2- The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale
and self-esteem according to gender?
Is there any relationship between the The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES)
levels of problematic mobile phone use and (Appendix D) is a 10-item Guttman Scale
self-esteem? which was developed by Rosenberg (1965)
and adapted by Cuhadaroglu (1986). In the
Method adaptation study, psychiatric interviews con-
Population and Sample ducted with high school students were tised
In this research, a descriptive stirvey as the criteria for the RSES. Examining the
method was used. The population was select- correlation coefficient between the scores of
ed from among the high school students of interviews and self-esteem scale revealed a
Aksaray, Nigde, Kayseri and Sakarya Prov- good criterion coefficient of .71. On the other
inces in Turkey. The sample consists of 919 hand, in a recent study conducted by Celik
students; 422 (43 %) female and 497 (57 %) (2004), RSES was also found to be quite reli-
male students. able in a university sample. In Celik's study,
Cronbach Alpha coefficient for RSES was
Instruments found to be .87 (n = 733).
1- The Problematic Mobile Phone Use
Scale Findings

The Cronbach's Alpha was found to be Descriptive statistics was used in the anal-
0.93 in the estimation of internal reliabihty of ysis of the data. In order to determine whether
the original form of Bianchi and Phillips' scale there was a significant difference between the
(2005). The original scale was then adapted by levels of problematic mobile pbone use and
§ar and Içiklar (2012) to Turkish. This scale, self-esteem according to genders, the inde-
whose aim is to indicate the level of adults' pendent samples t test was, and in order to
determine whether there was any relationship
problematic mobile phone tise, is composed of
between the levels of problematic mobile
27 items and is a five point likert scale. The
phone use and self-esteem, correlation anal-
scores vary from 1 to 135 and higher scores
ysis was used.
reveal mobile pbone addiction. In the first step

Table 1. The t-Test Results of Adolescents' Problematic Mobile Phone Use and Their
Self- Esteem Levels According to Gender
Gender N Mean Std Deviation t P
Self-esteem Female 422 4.81 1.14
30.09 .001
Male 497 2.48 1.18
Mobile Phone Female 422 93.63 24.61
16.17 .001
Male 497 66.03 26.71
12/Education Vol. 134 No. 1

Table 2. The Correlation Results of Problematic Mobile Phone Use and Self-esteem
Prb.Mob.P.U. Self-esteem Sig.(2-tailed)
Prb.Moh.P. U. .329** .01
Self-esteem .329** .01
** The correlation of these two variables is statistically significant (0.01)

Considering the results oft test in Table 1, problematic mobile phone use and self-es-
when self-esteem scores are examined accord- teem? and Is there a significant difference be-
ing to gender, the self-esteem level of females tween the levels of problematic mobile phone
is found to be higher than the self-esteem lev- use and self-esteem according to gender?
els of males. When the students' problematic The previous research stated that much
mobile phone use scores are examined, the fi-equent use is closely related to lower self-es-
scores of the male students are higher than the teem (Liao & Wan, 2010) in adolescents as
scores of the female students. The male stu- well (Ko et al.., 2011), which was also the case
dents' level of problematic mobile phone use for our study. We found a similar relationship
is found to be higher than the female students' between mobile phone use and self-esteem
level of problematic mobile phone use. as parallel to the previous research (Phillips
The results indicate a positive correlation et a/., 2006; Yang et al, 2010; Leung, 2008;
between these two variables (.329) and the Walsh et al, 2009) which implied lower
correlation is significant at the level of .01. self-esteem levels regarding the overuse of
High scores of self-esteem suggest lower mobile phone.
self-esteem and high scores of problematic As we stated above, problematic phone
mobile phone suggest problematic mobile use has negative consequences. Abnormal
phone use. Therefore, the more problematic behaviors, social problems and emotional
mobile phone use is, the lower self-esteem conditions are related to problematic use. For
individuals have. example, it is stated that emotional conditions
such as lower self-esteerri and tendency to
Discussion suicide aflect mobile phone use negatively
With the growing technology, mobile (Augner & Hacker, 2010).
phone ownership and its use are seen as in- For the gender variable, as reported in the
dicators of how we live and feel. Sharp rises, introduction part, it is difficult to conclude
especially, in the smart phone consumption whether there is a sharp difference in mobile
show how popular the use of mobile phones phone use between gender. Another question
have become among young people. Like a of the study was Is there a significant differ-
range of other technologies, children and ence between the levels of problematic mo-
young adults have indeed been avid adopters bile phone use and self-esteem according to
of mobile phones (Lexmg, 2008). Adoles- gender? As a result, the male students' level
cents' overuse of mobile phone, of course, of problematic mobile phone use was found
causes many debates as it may lead to nega- to be higher than the female students' level
tive consequences (James & Drennan, 2005). of problematic mobile phone use. When rel-
Thus, this research addressed the following evant studies are examined, there is no signif-
two fundamental questions regarding mobile icant correlation between males and females
phone use and self-esteem of the students: Is regarding problematic mobile phone use
there any relationship between the levels of (Augner & Hacker, 2010). In Billieux et a/.'s
 An Investigation of the Relationship between High-School Students' Problematic... /13

study, it is also emphasized that as for prob- Balakrishnan, V. & Raj, R. G. (2011). Exploring the
lematic mobile phone use, females tend to Relationship Between Urbanized Malaysian Youth
and Their Mobile Phones: A Quantitative Approach.
be more addicted than males, whereas males
Telematics and Informatics, 29, 263-272.
tend to use mobile phones more frequently in Bianehi, A. & Phillips, J. G. (2005). Psychological Pre-
dangerotis situations (Billieux et al.., 2008). dictors of Problem Mobile Phone Use. Cyberpsy-
Bianchi & Philips (2005) also found that fe- chology & Behavior, 8(1), 89-95
males use mobile phones for social reasons, Billieux, J., Van der Linden, M., & Rochat, L. (2008).
The role of impulsivity in actual and problematic use
whereas males use them for business. Still
of the mobile phone. Applied Cognitive Psychology,
another study found that females tend to 22(9), 1195-1210.
talk much more on the phone than males do, Celik S. (2004). The effects of an attachment oriented
whereas males are interested in mobile phone psychoeducational group trainingon improving the
more for business purposes (Balakrishnan & preoccupied attachment styles of university students.
Master's thesis. Middle East Technical University,
Raj, 2011). Therefore, we can conclude that
Ankara, Turkey.
these findings cannot supply sufficient infor- CottEn, S. R. (2008). Students' Technology Use and The
mation about whether gender is one of the Impacts on Well-being. New Direedons for Student
best predictors of the mobile phone use/addic- Services. Wiley Periodicals, áov. 10.10Ö2/ss.295.
tion although there are some studies (and our Cuhadaroglu F. (1986). Self-esteem in adolescents.
research is also included) which change this Unpublished master's thesis, Hacettepe University,
Ankara, Turkey.
gender balance. This study examined the rela- Geser, H. (2006). Is the Cell Phone Undermining the So-
tionship between problematic phone use and cial Order? Understanding Mobile Teehnology From
self- esteem with regard to gender. The limita- a Soeiological Perspective. Knowledge, Technology,
tion of the study is that although self-esteem & Policy, / P ( l ) , 8-18.
is seen as a strong predictor of addiction, it is International Telecommunication Union. (2011).
Key global telecom indicators for the world tele-
fairly weak to predict problematic mobile use communication service seetor. Retrieved from:
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in order to get a more concrete and certain Use: What Communication Motives Does it Gratify?
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mance and subjective well-being as a conse- consumption of mobile phone technology. Paper pre-
quence of addictive use of the mobile phone sented at the Australian and New Zealand Marketing
may also be examined. More studies shotild Academy eonference, Perth, Australia
Ko, C , Cheong, D., Park, T., Kang, Y. & Park, J. (2011).
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