This study aimed to develop a smartphone overdependence prevention program for college students based on the self-determination theory (SDT) and evaluate its effectiveness.

A non-equivalent control group repeated measures design was used for the study. Participants were 64 university freshmen (experimental group: 29, control group: 35). The developed program consists of eight sessions conducted twice a week. The program was designed to promote autonomy, competence, and relatedness the three elements of the basic psychological needs of self-determination theory. The participants were assessed before the program, immediately after, and 1 and 3 months after the program. Data were collected from April 23 to September 14, 2018 and analyzed by performing a Chi-square test, Fisher’s exact test, independent t-test, and repeated measures ANOVA using SPSS/WIN 23.0.

This study showed improvement in the basic psychological needs (F=3.90, p=.010) in the experimental group compared to the control group. Specifically, competence (F=2.93, p=.035), relatedness (F=2.89, p=.045), and self-regulatory ability (F=3.11, p=.028) improved significantly.

Study findings indicate that the smartphone overdependence prevention program based on the Self-determination theory could be an effective intervention for improving basic psychological needs and self-regulation ability. Therefore, this program could be an efficient strategy for smartphone overdependence prevention in university students.

This study was done to provide fundamental data for the development of competency reinforcement programs to prevent addictive behavior in adolescents through the construction and examination of an addiction prevention core competency model.

In this study core competencies for preventing addictive behavior in adolescents through competency modeling were identified, and the addiction prevention core competency model was developed. It was validated methodologically.

Competencies for preventing addictive behavior in adolescents as defined by the addiction prevention core competency model are as follows: positive self-worth, self-control skill, time management skill, reality perception skill, risk coping skill, and positive communication with parents and with peers or social group. After construction, concurrent cross validation of the addiction prevention core competency model showed that this model was appropriate.

The study results indicate that the addiction prevention core competency model for the prevention of addictive behavior in adolescents through competency modeling can be used as a foundation for an integral approach to enhance adolescent is used as an adjective and prevent addictive behavior. This approach can be a school-centered, cost-efficient strategy which not only reduces addictive behavior in adolescents, but also improves the quality of their resources.

This study was done to develop a cell phone addiction scale for Korean adolescents.

The process included construction of a conceptual framework, generation of initial items, verification of content validity, selection of secondary items, preliminary study, and extraction of final items. The participants were 577 adolescents in two middle schools and three high schools. Item analysis, factor analysis, criterion related validity, and internal consistency were used to analyze the data.

Twenty items were selected for the final scale, and categorized into 3 factors explaining 55.45% of total variance. The factors were labeled as withdrawal/tolerance (7 items), life dysfunction (6 items), and compulsion/persistence (7 items). The scores for the scale were significantly correlated with self-control, impulsiveness, and cell phone use. Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the 20 items was .92. Scale scores identified students as cell phone addicted, heavy users, or average users.

The above findings indicate that the cell phone addiction scale has good validity and reliability when used with Korean adolescents.