Open Collections

Parent, Natasha

University of British Columbia

This dissertation provides a contemporary examination of adolescents’ development and well-being in the current socio-technological context through the lens of Self-Determination Theory. Specifically, this work employs a person-centered approach (i.e., Latent Profile Transition Analysis) to investigate the developmental and motivational factors (i.e., basic psychological need satisfaction) underpinning the relationship between adolescents’ smartphone engagement and well-being across two time points. Data was collected from two high schools in British Columbia, Canada, using an online questionnaire between April 27th and May 3rd, 2021 (Time 1), and between February 15th and March 1st, 2022 (Time 2). The final longitudinal sample for this study included 875 adolescents (mage = 14.71; 43.7% girls). Findings from the Latent Profile Analyses across both time points revealed four distinct profiles of adolescents’ online and overall basic psychological need satisfaction and frustration: (1) “Unsatisfied and Frustrated”; (2) “Satisfied and Frustrated” (3) “Online Satisfied and Frustrated”; (4) “Overall Satisfied and Unfrustrated”. Results from Multinomial Logistic Regression analyses indicated that membership into these latent profiles was differently predicted by intra- and inter-personal factors (i.e., gender, ethnicity, fear of missing out, habitual smartphone use, and parent/peer attachment). Girls were more likely to be in profiles with less overall need satisfaction, and adolescents’ who identified as Southeast Asian were less likely to be in the “Satisfied and Frustrated” profile. Moreover, adolescents higher in fear of missing out and habitual smartphone use were more likely to be in profiles with more online need satisfaction and overall frustration, while those higher in parent/peer attachment security were more likely to be in profiles with less need frustration. Additionally, higher habitual smartphone use at Time 1 predicted transitions from the “Unsatisfied and Frustrated” profile into profiles with more need satisfaction at Time 2. Finally, membership in the “Overall Satisfied and Unfrustrated” profile at Time 2 was associated with significantly better mental health (i.e., lower levels of stress, anxiety, and depression) when compared to the other profiles. Findings from this work highlight the nuances with which adolescents’ online and overall basic need satisfaction is experienced in the current socio-technological context and have important implications for interventions and educational programming.

Text

2023-04-19

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/84340

Human Development, Learning, and Culture

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/