The popularity of social media use among adolescents has raised concerns about the potentially harmful effects of social media use on adolescents’ sleep. Since longitudinal research considering this relationship is scarce, the present two-wave longitudinal study of 2021 secondary school students (Mage = 13.86, SD = 1.25) examined whether frequency of social media use and problematic social media use predicted adolescents’ bedtime and quality of sleep. Moreover, the protective role of parental rules regarding Internet and smartphone use one hour before sleep was examined. The findings indicated that strict parental rules about Internet and smartphone use before sleep might prevent negative consequences of social media use on bedtime and sleep quality, but only among less engaged social media users. Once adolescents are highly engaged social media users, strict parental rules do not seem to prevent negative media influences on sleep. This implies that limiting Internet accessibility before bedtime can help prevent adolescents’ sleep problems, but that regulation is less effective for adolescents who are already highly involved in social media use.

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The personality trait sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) is an established risk factor for the development of internalizing problems. Highly sensitive adolescents react stronger to environmental cues including parenting environment and stressful life events. The aim of the current study was to examine if the perceived impact of COVID-19, mediates the link between SPS and internalizing problems. In addition, it was tested if parenting style moderates the mediating effect of perceived COVID-19 impact between SPS and internalizing problems among adolescents. The study had a cross- sectional design and data were collected between April-July 2020 during the first lockdown in the Netherlands. Participants were 404 adolescents aged 9–18 years (Mage = 13.49). Questionnaires were administered online to assess SPS (Highly Sensitive Child Scale), parenting style (Parenting Style Inventory-II), internalizing problems (Patient Health Questionnaire-4) and COVID-19 pandemic impact (COVID-19 impact scale). The SPSS macro PROCESS was used to test the mediation model of perceived COVID-19 impact and the moderated mediation model with parenting style as a moderator. A relationship was found between SPS and internalizing problems which is partly mediated by the COVID-19 impact. The moderating effect of parenting style was not found. These findings provide insight into the effect the pandemic has had on highly sensitive adolescents. Further research is needed to develop and test interventions to support sensitive youth and thus possibly prevent the development of internalizing problems.

This qualitative study provides insight into the role of parents’ self-interest in digital media use of children in different age groups. We conducted 31 semi-structured interviews with fathers/mothers of children aged 3–16 years who were recruited via targeted sampling. A deductive and inductive content analysis was applied. Results show that parents’ self-interest in letting children use digital media includes being able to do other tasks without being bothered, having some me-time, managing children’s behavior, avoiding discussions, having moments to use digital media themselves and spending quality-time together. In addition, we found that the manner in which parents let children use digital media out of self-interest seems to depend on age. With younger children, parents initiate digital media use or set times at which children are allowed to use digital media. With older children, parents use a passive manner by omitting restrictive responses to their children’s media use. Current findings can be used to inform interventions aimed at reducing children’s screen time.

Although accumulating studies indicate that alcohol-specific self-control can be useful in predicting adolescent alcohol use, little is known about its specificity. This longitudinal study aimed to advance our understanding of domain-specific self-control by examining whether alcohol-specific self-control mediates the effect of general self-control on adolescent alcohol use or has generalizing effects by also mediating the effect of general self-control on other behavior requiring self-control (adolescent digital media use and smoking). Data from 906 adolescents aged 11–14 years who were enrolled in the Dutch study Prevention of Alcohol Use in Students were used. Data were collected using online questionnaires at four annual measurements. Structural equation modelling revealed that higher alcohol-specific self-control fully mediated the effect of higher general self-control on alcohol use. Alcohol-specific self-control did not mediate the effect of higher general self-control on digital media use, but did partially mediate the effect of higher general self-control on smoking. These results suggest that alcohol-specific self-control is domain-specific, but not necessarily substance-specific. The domain-specificity of alcohol-specific self-control provides evidence for its theoretical relevance for the explanation of adolescent alcohol use. It also suggests leverage points for intervention programs focusing on improving alcohol-specific self-control to reduce adolescent alcohol use.