Phubbing, alienation, digital game addiction, independent self-construal, and interdependent self-construal among high school students: A path analysis

In this study, the aim is to analyze the relationships between phubbing, alienation, digital game addiction, independent self-construal, and interdependent self-construal among high school students. The sample of the study consists of 1,932 students studying in different high schools in Turkey who were selected by the stratified random sampling method, considering the grade levels and gender variables. The students completed surveys regarding self-construal, digital game addiction, alienation, and phubbing. The data obtained were analyzed by path analysis, one of the structural equation modeling methods. In the research, nine hypotheses were developed for the proposed model based on theoretical knowledge. As a result of the analysis, eight hypotheses were supported, and one was unsupported. According to the findings, digital game addiction had a significant impact on alienation and phubbing; also, alienation had a considerable impact on phubbing. The model explained 16% of the variance (R2= .16) of phubbing, directly and indirectly. This means that the exogenous variables have a moderate level of influence on the endogenous variable. Moreover, alienation had a maximum degree of effect on phubbing.