Impact of cell-phone use and internalizing socio-affective adpatation on the life satisfaction of 9 to 12 years old children

Objective. - The aim of this study is to describe and identify the associated variables with some indicators of children's life satisfaction, aged from 9 to 12 years old, who use or not a mobile phone, taking account of their sex and age group, in order to appreciated the respective contributions. Participants and method. - A survey using questionnaires was conducted in 15 schools of the Toulouse region. Children and their parents participated in this research. Among the 508 children who participate in this research, 164 (80 girls and 84 boys) own a mobile phone. The French version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire made by Goodman (1997) is used in order to measure the level of children's internalising problems. This questionnaire inquiries the parental perceptions relating to child's socio-affective and behavioral adaptation. Besides parents, children answered to an auto-administrated questionnaire asking them about their mobile phone use. Then, the French version of the Multidimensional Students's Life Satisfaction Scale (Huebner, 1994) is used in order to measure the level of children's life satisfaction. Results. - Older children (11-12 years old) are four times more likely to have a mobile phone (n = 130, 79.3%). On the other hand, only 29.9% (n=103) do not have a mobile phone at this age. A slightly larger number of children (53.4%, n= 87) preferentially uses mobile phone in their bedroom and the vast majority of children do not use their mobile phone when they are in the classroom (92.1%, n=13). While, children generally report a high level of life satisfaction, some factors contribute to a more or less positive evaluation. Main finding show that differences exist according to sex and age, and confirm the contribution of some characteristics, including the place at which the mobile phone is used, and particularly internalising problems on family, friends, and self satisfaction. Conclusion. - With its mobility, the mobile phone appeared to be the perfect tool to cover the growing communication needs, both now and in the future. Additionally, mobile phone offers children the opportunity to shape a specific culture while getting closer to teenage years. Indeed, its use being an essential component of everyday social interaction, through phone calls or SMS help children have similar social experiences. Thus, the use of mobile phone and SMS will be able to bring about a sense of social connectivity, which can reciprocally improve the qualit