The Effect of Academic Burnout of Elementary School Students on the Smartphone Game Addiction CRISIS: Mediating Effects of Anxiety and ADHD Tendency

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine and understand the effect of academic burnout of elementary school students on the smartphone game addiction and investigate as to what mediating effects of anxiety and ADHD tendency have in this process. Method: A survey was conducted targeting 654 elementary school students from two elementary schools in the capital area, and the levels of academic burnout, anxiety, ADHD tendency, and smartphone game addiction were surveyed. The collected data were analyzed based on the structural equation modeling (SEM). Results: The results were as follows. First, the academic burnout turned out to directly or indirectly increase the smartphone game addiction. Second, anxiety turned out to indirectly increase the smartphone game addiction, while the ADHD tendency directly increased the smartphone game addiction. Third, three pathways of academic burnout on the smartphone game addiction were verified, where the direct pathway of academic burnout → smartphone game addiction and the two indirect pathways of ‘academic burnout → ADHD tendency, → smartphone game addiction’ and ‘academic burnout → anxiety → ADHD tendency → smartphone game addiction’ turned out to be significant. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that in order to prevent the smartphone game addiction of the elementary school students, the intervention for academic and emotional problems such as academic burnout, anxiety, and ADHD tendency ought to be conducted together.