Abstract

The purpose of this study was to achieve an integrative understanding of adolescents’ patterns of media use, by conducting a latent profile analysis on various subfactors of media use. Additionally, we tested if the identified latent classes of media use may be differentiated by adolescents’ psychological(depression, impulsivity) and demographic factors(sex, grade). A total of 916 6th grade elementary school students(390 males, 526 females) and 2nd grade 553 middle school students(228 males, 325 females) reported on their media use behavior(Internet, game, smartphone), the purposes of media use, and levels of depression and impulsivity. The results of the latent profile analysis indicate that adolescents’ patterns of media use are best described with five latent classes: ‘potential risk with high preoccupation’, ‘potential risk with low preoccupation’, ‘moderate users with high occupation’, ‘moderate users with high loss of control’, and ‘casual users.’ In the multi-logistic regression analysis, the identified latent classes were differentiated based on the purposes of media use, depression, impulsivity, and grade. This study represents an initial effort to explain complex patterns of media use in Korean adolescents, and offers practical implications by proposing potential targets to consider in early identification and prevention of media overuse problems.