Participants

The sample was comprised of a total of 1,101 participants, from which 47.8% were boys and 52.2% girls in the 1^st year of Compulsory Secondary Education (ESO for its initials in Spanish) (32.4%), 2^nd year of ESO (22.3%), 3^rd year of ESO (24.3%), and 4^th year of ESO (21%), with age ranges between 11 and 18 (17% between 11 and 12; 46.1% between 13 and 14, and 36.2% between 15 and 18). This sample, with a 95% confidence interval and a 5% margin of error, was obtained by probability sampling selecting 10 public centres among the 9 regions that make up the Region of Murcia. Because of the nature of this study, the establishment of exclusion criteria was not required.

Design

The study follows a nonexperimental quantitative research design. A transactional survey design was used; therefore, the timing of the study was set on a specific moment (Sáez-López, 2017).

Instruments

The questionnaire Ud-TIC maladaptive use of ICTs (α=.841), administered ad hoc from previously validated instruments for the teenage population in Spanish territory, was used; the scales CERI, CERM (Beranuy et al., 2009), CERV (Chamarro et al., 2014) and CHASO were also used (Caballo & Salazar, 2017). It consists of two dimensions: 1) Dimension 1, sociodemographic data: asks for personal data (age, gender, study year, and region), academic performance (marks in instrumental areas and 3 questions about attitudes towards studying and the interference of ICTs), family supervision (existent control, adults in charge of supervising, and timetable and availability of access to ICTs) and manifestation of stress and nervousness when ICTs are not present. 2) Dimension 2, Frequency of Use of ICTs is made up of 19 items, 3 related to frequency of use (mobile phone, the Internet and videogames) and 16 to experiences related to the use of mobile phones, the Internet and videogames.

Procedure

Complying with rule 8.2 of APA, a document requesting signed consent was distributed and the authorization of each parent of the participants was also solicited. Students were given a document of informed consent about the anonymity and voluntary nature of their participation. Both documents were previously validated by the Research Ethical Commission of the University of Murcia. The instruments were applied in paper form. Data collection took place during office hours and in the presence of the school tutor. Completing the questionnaire took approximately between 12 and 20 minutes.

First objective: the frequency of ICT use

Data analysis showed that 6.3% of students use a gaming console daily, followed by a 16% using it a few times weekly, a 17.4% only during the weekend, 25% rarely and 35% never, (M=2.32). Regarding gender, boys use gaming consoles more, one out of ten use it daily and 26% use it a few times weekly, whereas only 1% of the girls use the gaming console daily and 6.4% a few times weekly (p>.01). Concerning study year, 1^st year ESO students are the ones using videogames more often, 7% affirm playing every day and 19% a few times weekly, followed by 2^nd year ESO students, with 7% playing every day and 17% a few times weekly, in 3^rd year ESO almost 5% of students play every day and 15% a few times weekly. 4^th year ESO students use the gaming console less often, 6.5% daily and 10.8% a few times a week (p=.005). Re: the use of mobile phones (Table 1), 1 out of 3 participants report using their mobile phones constantly, whereas 33.5% use it a lot, 25% frequently and 11% only when needed, and 2.9% never (M=3.72). Significant statistical differences were found for the variables gender (p=.003) and study year (p<.01).

In regards to gender, girls use their mobile phones more, with one out of three using the phone constantly and 32.5% a lot. Moreover, 23.4% of the boys use it constantly, and 34.6% a lot. Concerning study year, a progressive increase in the use of mobile phones as they go onto the next study year is observed (Table 1). In reference to other gadgets with Internet connection, teenagers use these less often than mobile phones, although it is still high. Nevertheless, 13% of participants use other gadgets with Internet connection constantly, followed by 25.7% who use these a lot, 25.9% frequently, and 30.3% only when needed (M=3.13). Regarding gender, a similar tendency among boys (13.7% constantly and 27% a lot) and girls (13% constantly and 24.5% a lot) is perceived. In this way, there are no significant statistical differences (p=.447). Concerning study year, there is a stable tendency in the use of gadgets with Internet connection (p=.600); thus, in 1^st year ESO 13.2% of students use them constantly, with 23.2% using them a lot; in 2^nd year ESO 13.9% use it constantly and 25.7% use it a lot; in 3^rd year ESO 13.8% use it constantly and 27.6% a lot; in 4^th year ESO only 12.6% use it constantly and 27.3% a lot.

Second objective: the role that family supervision plays in the use of ICTs

Three types of supervision were established: 1) supervising the use of the Internet and social networks; 2) supervising time spent playing with a gaming console; 3) supervising the type of videogames played. Regarding family supervision on the use of the Internet and social networks by teenagers, 56% of the students reported not having any type of family supervision while surfing the net; similarly, 4 out of 10 have no supervision of the time spent playing videogames, and 60% of parents do not supervise the type of videogames their children play.

Regarding gender, parents supervise girls more when using the Internet and social networks (45.4%). Boys are more supervised on the time they spend playing videogames (64.6%), whereas for girls it is only a 48.9%. This percentual difference is statistically significant when both groups are compared (p<.01).

With regards to study year, there is a progressive decrease in the supervision of the use of the Internet and social networks (62% 1^st year ESO, 43% 2^nd year ESO, 30% 3^rd year ESO and only 26% for students in 4^th year ESO) (p<.01). Concerning the time, they spend playing videogames, there is a similar tendency towards a decrease in supervision as students move onto the next study year; 69% of students in 1^st year ESO have supervision, 57.6% of 2^nd year students, 56% of 3^rd year students and only 36% of 4^th year ESO students (p<.01). Finally, supervising the type of games, there is a progressive decrease as students move onto the next study year; 62% of students in 1^st year have family supervision, 43.7% in 2^nd year, 32.8% in 3^rd year and only 26.4% in 4^th year ESO (p<.01). When students are asked about the parent in charge of the supervision, in most cases both are involved (31.8%), followed by only mothers (15.5%), only fathers (4.2%), grandparents (0.4%) and others (2.6%). Another measure of family supervision is related to the limiting of time spent online. In terms of the timetable of access to the Internet (Figure 1), 60% of teenagers have access to the Internet throughout the day, followed by 26% with access only in the evening, 10% only at night, and 2.5% never. Regarding gender, boys have more access to the Internet throughout the day (62.5%) than girls (59.3%), although these differences are not statistically significant (p=.262). Concerning age, older students (between 15 and 17) have more access to the Internet (80% constantly), and more than half of students between 13 and 14 have freedom to access the Internet whenever they want; in younger ages (11 to 12), 1 out of 4 have constant access to the Internet (p<.01).

Within this same objective, frequency of use of ICTs and family supervision was analysed. Data suggests a statistically significant correlation between the frequency of use of gaming consoles and a lack of family supervision when using the Internet and social networks ( ${\chi }^2$ 8=24.824, p≤.05, V=.22); it is worth mentioning that 80% of students using a console every day have no family supervision while playing online (Figure 2).

${\chi }^2$ 8=69.581, p<.01, V=.21). In this line, seven out of ten youngsters use their mobile phones or gadgets with constant Internet access without any family supervision ( ${\chi }^2$ 8=52.123, p<.01, V=.21).

Third objective: the relationship between access to ICTs and feelings of anxiety and nervousness of adolescents

It was found that 33% of the students feel stressed or nervous when they have no access to the Internet. Girls affirm feeling more nervous when they are forbidden access to the Internet (35%) than boys (27%). Regarding study year, the presence of stress is stable, although it diminishes partially in students in the 4^th year of ESO. Concerning frequency of use of ICTs, 52% of students using their phone constantly confess feeling stressed or nervous when they cannot connect to the Internet. The percentage of stressed students decreases when the frequency of use is less (29.5% of students using it a lot, 17.8% using it frequently, and 14% using it only when needed ( ${\chi }^2$ (2)=100.87, p<.01, V=.30)). Those students playing videogames every day feel more stressed when they do not have access to the Internet (44.9%), followed by those who play a few times a week (29.4%), rarely (29.5%), and only the ones playing with the gaming console during the weekend are less stressed than the other groups ( ${\chi }^2$ (4)=19.65, p=.001, V=.134). This tendency happens again when frequency of use of other gadgets with Internet connection and feelings of stress are correlated ( ${\chi }^2$ (4)=25.029, p<.01, V=.151), with a slow increase between frequency of exposure to screens and stress when there is no connection; 44.2% of students using them constantly feel stressed, followed by 37% using them a lot and 26% frequently.

Teenagers who have family supervision when using the Internet and social networks show less stress when access to the Internet is absent or impossible (27.71%) compared to teenagers who have no supervision from their parents or other adults (34.03%) ( ${\chi }^2$ 2=7.222, p=.027, V=.027). In the case of students without family supervision of time spent playing with the gaming console, they show more stress when these cannot be accessed (35.7%) compared to teenagers with supervision from their parents (28%) ( ${\chi }^2$ 2=7.870, p=.02, V=.02). A statistically significant association between the limitation of time spent accessing the Internet and the presence of states of stress ( ${\chi }^2$ 2=727.658, p<.01, V=.158) was also found; students feeling more stressed were those who have access to the Internet only at night (42.1%), followed by those who have no access (33.3%) and by those who have access throughout the day (31.3%). The participants that reported having the least stress when there was no access to the Internet were those who had access only during the evening (19.7%).

Fourth objective: identification of ICT usage profiles

To achieve this, a multivariate hierarchical cluster was used. An appropriate classification for three groups represented in the dendrogram was found (Figure 3). The hierarchical result of three groups was replicated with an ANOVA. The accumulated average distance between 1 and 2 was 4.059, whereas the average distance between 2 and 3 was 3.158. Average scores for grouping variables are included in Table 2.

Cluster 3 was coded “Adapted use of ICTs” (n=648) and included students showing an appropriate use of ICTs. Cluster 2, coded “Signs of maladaptive use of ICTs” (n=335) was characterized by showing average levels of experiences related to a maladaptive use of ICTs.

And Cluster 1 was coded “maladaptive use of ICTs” (n=118), which corresponds to 10.72% of students, characterized by showing a homogeneous profile of subjects that manifest a higher level of experiences related to the maladaptive use of ICTs, such as abandoning responsibilities to spend more time on the Internet and playing videogames, a decrease in academic performance because of the use of the Internet, the mobile phone or videogames, avoiding problems with the use of the Internet, showing more ability to socialize online than in person, nervousness when not receiving messages or calls, staying up late to spend time on their phones or the gaming console, feeling the need to spend more time on their phone or gaming console, frustration or anger when someone interrupts them while using their phones or gaming console, or saying things via their phone that they would not say in person.