How Does the Parent–Adolescent Relationship Affect Adolescent Internet Addiction? Parents’ Distinctive Influences

Abstract

Although previous research has demonstrated that parent–adolescent relationships have a significant effect on adolescent Internet Addiction (IA), the mechanisms underlying these associations and parental differences in these effects have received insufficient attention. We investigated the mediating role of Perceived Social Support and Dual System of Self-Control (DSSC) in the relationship between Father-Adolescent Relationships/Mother-Adolescent Relationships (FAR/MAR) and adolescent IA, as well as the differences in the effects of FAR and MAR. A cross-sectional survey of 732 Chinese adolescents was conducted using the Adolescent Pathological Internet Use Scale, Parent–Adolescent Relationship Scale, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and Dual System of Self-Control Scale. Multiple linear regression analysis, Pearson correlation analysis and structural equation modeling were used. The results of structural modeling analysis showed that neither FAR nor MAR directly predicted adolescent IA. In contrast, FAR/MAR had an impact on adolescent IA mainly through the mediating effects of Perceived Social Support and Impulsive System. Furthermore, in the relationship between FAR/MAR and adolescent IA, the Impulsive System and Perceived Social Support both served as chain mediators, as did Perceived Social Support and the Reflective System. And more importantly, unlike FAR, MAR affects adolescent IA through the mediating effect of the Reflective System. Multiple linear regression showed that the regression coefficient of MAR on adolescent IA had stronger significance compared to FAR, MAR is deserving of more attention than FAR. These findings contribute to our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the association between FAR/MAR and adolescent IA and suggest that family relationship-focused training approaches are critical for suppressing adolescent IA. These interventions should be tailored to the unique circumstances of each family.

Effect of paternal-maternal parenting styles on college students’ internet addiction of different genders: The mediating role of life satisfaction

“…For example, punitive parenting has a greater impact on adolescent problematic internet use than over-protection and rejection [35]. Some studies are focused on how different parenting styles of fathers and mothers affect adolescents' internet addiction [37][38][39]. Lansford et.al [37] showed that fathers' psychological control can affect children's developmental problems.…”

“…Lansford et.al [ 37 ] showed that fathers’ psychological control can affect children’s developmental problems. Another study [ 38 ] revealed that the mother-adolescent relationship is more closely linked to internet addiction than the father-adolescent relationship among adolescents. Fathers are more likely to promote teenage internet addiction with rejective and overprotective parenting styles [ 39 ].…”

Why Adolescents Are Addicted to Social Media

“…Adolescents who feel more unhappiness and dissatisfaction in their childhood get more easily addicted to social media [11]. Similarly, a good mother-adolescent relationship could help adolescents' reflective system, which would benefit self-monitoring and prevent internet addiction since internet addiction includes social media addiction [12].…”

Mother Involvement as An Effort to Prevent Internet Addiction in Children

“…However, unfortunately quite a lot of them, especially children do not yet understand how to use the internet well and the risks they will receive if they use the internet. So many children become victims when they are using the internet (Qi et al, 2022).…”

“…In addition, parents are figures or figures who have an important role and are also influential in educating, nurturing, and preventing problems related to internet use that often occur in children. Therefore, parents, especially mothers are expected to have sufficient knowledge about good internet use (Hsieh et al, 2018;Qi et al, 2022;Zhang et al, 2019). But unfortunately, until now there are still many parents who do not have enough knowledge about the internet.…”